With the terrible conflict between Russian and Georgia in the news, I thought it might be interesting to discuss some of the interesting composers from the Caucasus and Russian composers who were inspired by this ancient and fascinating region.
I have long been fascinated by the Caucasus, with its ancient and exotic cultures, rich and turbulent history , and incredible ethnic and linguistic diversity.
Khatchaturian is probably the best known composer from this area. He was born in Tbilisi into an Armenian family in 1903, and died in 1978.
The Kh should be pronounced as the CH in Chutzpah.
His music , influenced by Armenian and Caucasian folk music, may be garish and even vulgar at times, but it is bursting with energy and color and is never boring. The ballet Gayane, with the famous Sabre dance, the piano and violin concertos, are some of his best-known works.
I have a recording by Stokowski and the Symphony of the Air on EMI of the second symphony, "The Bell", inspired by WW2. It's quite powerful and deserves to be heard more often. Some find the ballet Spartacus, based on a slave rebellion in ancient Rome, is considered trashy by some, but is certainly not boring.
Mikhail Ippolitov- Ivanov , a contemporary of Mahler, Sibelius and Busoni, is best known for his orchestral suite "Caucasian Sketches", which used to be performed with some frequency, but has been pretty much forgotten. I have a Naxos Cd of this which also contains the almost totally unknown second suite, which contains a very exciting Lezghinka, or traditional Caucasian dance with pounding drums. The conductor is Arthur Fagen with the Ukarainian National orchestra. This is very much worth hearing.
The Russian composer Mily Balakirev (1837- 1910 ), is probably best known for his virtuosic piano piece Islamey, based on Circassian folk music. This has been orchestrated by Alfredo Casella and the Russian composer Sergei Liapunov. Balakirev also wrote an interesting tone poem called Tamara, based on a Georgian legend about a treacherous Georgian queen who had all of her lovers killed and thrown into the Aragva river.
This is on a Naxos CD with the first symphony, a work which ought to be played more often.
There are and have been a number of Georgian composers, such as Zakhari Paliashvili, and a contemporary one Giya Kancheli (1935-).
I have a Sony Classical CD of two of his symphonies. Kancheli has a distinctive and peculiar style which features lengthy quiet passages followed by sudden extremely loud explosians. I would like to hear more of his music.
Incidentally, the great conductor Valery Gergiev is an ethnic Ossetian.
The Ossetians are descended from the ancient Scythian tribes, and speak a language related to Farsi, Kurdish and Pashto. Prokofiev's "Scythian Suite" is a riot of color, and this is the kind of music Gergiev was born to conduct. Also, Yuri Temirkanov is an ethnic Circassian from the Black sea region of the Caucasus, and not a Russian.
The republic of Azerbaijan, on the Caspian sea, has produced a number of composers, although I do not know their music well, such as
Kara Karayev, Uzeir Hadjibeyev, and Franghiz AliZade, a woman composer who has lived in New York.
The Azerbaijanis are ethnic Turks, and speak a Turkish dialect which is perfectly comprehensible to people from Turkey. Most live in Iran, where they are a sizable minority.
The rich tradition of Caucasian folk music has inspired some colorful and exciting concert music.
