An ode to the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, many of Behzad Ranjbaran's melodic, rhythmic, and musical characters are inspired by Persian culture and its vocal and instrumental music. Movement one, "The Weeping Willow", was influenced by the composer's vision of three poets in a gentle but heated poetic discourse, with a musical phrase beginning with one instrument and then circulated and repeated in a refined exchange. The second movement refers to a river in Shiraz often cited in Iranian poe...

I. The Weeping Willow - II. The Rokni River