Behzad Ranjbaran composed MITHRA for orchestra in late 2009. The piece received its first three performances by the Santa Rosa Symphony on February 13-15, 2010 in Santa Rosa, California. MITHRA was jointly commissioned by Meet the Composer’s Magnum Opus project and three orchestras in Northern California: Santa Rosa, Marin, and Oakland East Bay Symphony.
In composing the piece MITHRA, Behzad Ranjbaran was inspired by various elements of Persian mythology and history that he was exposed to as a child growing up in Iran. Before composing MITHRA he had composed three large orchestral works: Seemorgh, Seven Passages (Haft Khan Rostam) and The Blood of Seyavash inspired by Shahnameh or the Book of Kings. London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta recorded the entire cycle (80 minutes) in an album called the Persian Trilogy.
These works inspired Ranjbaran to explore the earlier periods of Persian Mythology and started reading about Mithra (also Mitra or Mehr). Ranjbaran said that during his research he realized that how important Mithraism was for Persian history as well as the civilizations of the Near East, the Middle East, and Europe, as being one of the most influential belief systems in ancient time. It directly influenced the traditions of Zoroastrian, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, among others.
“I thought by writing a large orchestral piece honoring this mythology, I would pay my respects to our past and to those who contributed so much beauty and fascinating traditions to Iran and other countries,” said Ranjbaran. He was also attracted to the dramatic elements of the mythology as an inspiration for a musical composition.
Mithraism or Mehr is the Sun God, he is also known as the god of love, obligation and friendship. He said, that he thought that it was a fabulous belief system, which it stands for life over destruction, and that was explains his attraction to the mythology.
Behzad Ranjbaran said that Mithra has several faces: one represents the light or sun god, but also at the same time represents love and friendship, and the obligation that comes with affection (mehr). In Iran, traces of Mithraism still exists in various forms like the month of mehr, mehregan celebration and others.
The Santa Rosa Symphony, in front of 3,000 people, performed MITHRA on February 13-15, 2010. Bruno Ferrandis conducted the 80-member symphony orchestra, comprised of 35 different instruments.
“The piece is like a painting, or several scenes reflecting the different elements of the mythology,” he said.
The composition is very dramatic and is written in three interconnected sections. The solo flute in the opening section is mostly meditative and introverted in character with melodic figures inspired by the sound of the Persian Ney. The middle section is very energetic; it represents the conflicts of forces of life, light and darkness. In this section, Ranjbaran frequently uses brass instruments alluding to the Persian Deraz Ney (similar to the Alpine horn). In ancient time, Deraz Ney was often used in Iran during the outdoor festivities and ceremonies like Norooz in Persepolis. The final section is very lyrical referring to Mehr or the love and affectionate face of Mithra.
“I believe part of our national identity is rooted in our mythology. Mithraism represents some of our most wonderful and humanistic traditions that have ever been contributed to the world culture. I am delighted that MITHRA will be performed again by the symphony orchestras of Marin and the Oakland East Bay in the near future.”
