Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)

Started by vandermolen, August 28, 2007, 12:04:45 AM

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vandermolen

Quote from: Brian on July 16, 2009, 09:14:44 AM
Who performs on the old Phillips CD? I've been trying to compile a list of the cello concerto's recordings and didn't find that one.

As below:

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

Quote from: techniquest on July 16, 2009, 10:08:53 AM
I'm so pleased that Aram Khachaturian has his own thread here, imvho a most undervalued and neglected composer.
I agree that the earlier Tjeknavorian recording of the 1st symphony is better all-round than the later ASV set, but the ending works better I think in the latter with the frantic bass drum thuds well forward. I also have an ancient vinyl recording on the Russian MK label.
As for the 2nd, the Jarvi recording on Chandos is miles ahead of anyone else (his recording of the Piano Concerto on the same label with Constantine Orbelian as soloist is pretty good too). It is the composers strongest symphony and really deserves to be played more - or even at all!
The 3rd symphony is something of a riot, yes. I find that the BBC Philharmonic recording with Glushchenko (which also contains the first recording of the 'Triumphal Poem') superior to the old Stokowski recording, but both are far better than the very disappointing Tjeknavorian ASV option.The 3rd really ought to be Last Night of the Proms (first half) stuff - noisy, completely OTT fun! After all, you can dance to the last part quite happily!
I have the Regis release of the Cello Concerto and Cello Rhapsody which has Marina Tarasova as the soloist. I hope the new Naxos recording of the Cello Rhapsody and violin concerto is better than their frankly dire recording of the Piano Concerto and Concert Rhapsody.


I agree with your comments. I have a Russian Disc CD of Symphony No 1 (Alexander Gauk), which is probably the same performance as on your old Russian MK LP. I also own a double EMI CD with Khachaturian conducting Symphony No 1. The old RCA Tjeknavorian LSO version was the best and important gap in the CD catalogue (along with the late Edward Downes's LSO recording of Bax's Third Symphony - RCA have a lot to answer for  >:()
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Szykneij

#22
I have a 1957 vinyl LP featuring Khachaturian's "Chanson Poeme" performed by David Oistrakh (coupled with the "Kreutzer Sonata".) It's one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard and Oistrakh plays it brilliantly, but the sound quality of the recording is not very good. Does anyone know of any other recorded examples of this piece?

EDIT: Found an image:

Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

DFO

Le Chant du Monde Edition David Oistrakh No.15, with other 11 short pieces, including Tartini's trill and Paganini's var.on G string. But I'm afraid is OOP. :(

Szykneij

Quote from: DFO on July 17, 2009, 03:41:38 AM
Le Chant du Monde Edition David Oistrakh No.15, with other 11 short pieces, including Tartini's trill and Paganini's var.on G string. But I'm afraid is OOP. :(

Thanks -- at least I'll know what to keep on the lookout for. I wonder why it seems this piece was never recorded by another performer?
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

DFO

Well...yes. He's not Oistrakh, but..Michael Jelden K.works for violin solo and with piano.Including a full v.s. and Sonate-Monolog for solo violin. A german Bayerischer Rundfunk CD. Try German Ebay. ;)

Szykneij

Quote from: DFO on July 17, 2009, 12:38:44 PM
Well...yes. He's not Oistrakh, but..Michael Jelden K.works for violin solo and with piano.Including a full v.s. and Sonate-Monolog for solo violin. A german Bayerischer Rundfunk CD. Try German Ebay. ;)

Found it!



CD Universe -- many thanks!
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

Brian

Quote from: erato on July 16, 2009, 09:20:49 AM
Edit 2: And now I see the cello concerto is a download only. As I'm not into downloads, that's why I haven't noted the cello concerto recording and mixed them up. It seems like the wishlist will have to wait.
I have word from Naxos that the Cello Concerto and Concerto-Rhapsody CD will be released on a physical CD in February.

For now it is a download only:



Thanks to vandermolen for digging up that Philips recording!

jowcol

He definitely had a way with a melody.   I can't say I go too deep with him, but the Second Symphony is fantastic, and Spartacus and Gayne(sp?) have some heart-stopping moments.  Some of the slow, melancholy parts, (the Lullaby, the Adagio, and the Awakening from the latter) are unbelievably haunting.  I never quite got a hold of the piano concerto or cello concerto, but I probably haven't given them enough listens.


Back in the days of turntables, I must admit that I used to play the Sabre Dance (recorded at 33 rpm) at 45 rpm just for the overload.

"If it sounds good, it is good."
Duke Ellington

Tapkaara

Khachaturian is certainly one of my favorite composers.

I am tickled that the 3rd has been brought up here. I love this symphony. In terms of its form (in the traditional 'symphonic' sense) it is strangely lacking. But for the sheer fun factor, it can't be beat.

THE recording to hear of the work is on Chandos. In the Tjeknavorian and Kondrashin recordings, the organ is too weak. In this recording, the organ is quite loud, as it should be. So are the 15 trumpets. And the percussion. It's just so damn loud.

Yes, it is repetitive...and quite possibly tacky...but the visceral impact of the music is too much not to be swept away by it.

I agree with one of the earlier comments that Gayne is one of the best ballets of the 20th century...often sounds like it could have been written in the 19th century, though...

His incidental music from THE VALENCIAN WINDOW is another favorite of mine. Tuneful as hell.

techniquest

Ah yes, 'The Valencian Widow'; very tuneful and enjoyable music. In a similar vein we should also mention 'Masquerade' which was also a very tuneful piece of incidental music.
Glad I'm not the only one who really likes the 3rd Symphony- certainly the Glushchenko recording on Chandos has the most powerful organ, in fact as you suggest, the performance and recording is just about as OTT as the music itself.
Thinking about his ballet music, I'd put Spartacus ahead of Gayaneh but both are superb scores and deserve to be up there with the other great romantic ballets.

Tapkaara

Quote from: techniquest on July 22, 2009, 11:53:14 AM
Ah yes, 'The Valencian Widow'; very tuneful and enjoyable music. In a similar vein we should also mention 'Masquerade' which was also a very tuneful piece of incidental music.
Glad I'm not the only one who really likes the 3rd Symphony- certainly the Glushchenko recording on Chandos has the most powerful organ, in fact as you suggest, the performance and recording is just about as OTT as the music itself.
Thinking about his ballet music, I'd put Spartacus ahead of Gayaneh but both are superb scores and deserve to be up there with the other great romantic ballets.

I would actually put Gayne in before Spartacus. While I love both, Gayne has better tunes I think. Plus I can't resist the 'ethnic exoticism' of it. But in reality, both are equally powerful and worthwhile, it's just that the ethnic textures of Gayne are of (slightly) greater fascination to me.

The Masquerade Suite is also very tuneful, as well.

Amazing how conservative Khachaturian was, even compared to his compatriots and colleagues Shostakovich and Prokofiev. The modernists must have thought Khachaturian was ridiculous.

eyeresist

Quote from: Tapkaara on July 22, 2009, 11:57:44 AMThe Masquerade Suite is also very tuneful, as well.

Amazing how conservative Khachaturian was, even compared to his compatriots and colleagues Shostakovich and Prokofiev. The modernists must have thought Khachaturian was ridiculous.
Masquerade is wonderful "light" music, should be much better known.
Regarding Khachaturian's conservatism, I believe he wrote his wild third symphony shortly before the Zhdanov decree. If not for that cataclysm, we might have had more experimental music. (From the Wikipedia entry, it looks like Kha wrote mostly film and stage music after 1948.)

Tapkaara

Quote from: eyeresist on July 22, 2009, 09:30:56 PM
Masquerade is wonderful "light" music, should be much better known.
Regarding Khachaturian's conservatism, I believe he wrote his wild third symphony shortly before the Zhdanov decree. If not for that cataclysm, we might have had more experimental music. (From the Wikipedia entry, it looks like Kha wrote mostly film and stage music after 1948.)


As experimental as the 3rd symphony may be, it is still a conservative, tonal work. At least it is conservative if you compare it to some of the other things going on in music at the time. So, I'd still say it's a pretty conservative piece. Weird and wacky, but conservative.

Of course I cannot be 100% right, but I feel that Khachaturian was never one to get too "out there" anyway. His concerto-rhapsodies of the 1960s, for example, were written after most if not all of the fear of formalism had more or less left the regime, yet these works sound like they could have been written towards the end of the 19th century, but with a few inventive "modern" harmonies and dissonances.

Anyway, Khachaturian is a fabulous composer, highly accessible and he had a very distinctive sound.

Brian

Quote from: techniquest on July 22, 2009, 11:53:14 AM
Ah yes, 'The Valencian Widow'; very tuneful and enjoyable music.
I love the 'Valencian Widow'; am listening to the suite now. Have to say that my favorite section is always the second part - the rather oddly titled "Serenade", which is a good bit more ominous than the name lets on.  :D

Tapkaara

Quote from: Brian on July 29, 2009, 11:19:11 AM
I love the 'Valencian Widow'; am listening to the suite now. Have to say that my favorite section is always the second part - the rather oddly titled "Serenade", which is a good bit more ominous than the name lets on.  :D

I love the raucous and rousing first movement of the suite in particular. But the suite as a whole is just too irresistable. Should be as well known as Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol, I think.

eyeresist

#36
After Arimov, I am looking for more "Eastern" music. I listened to the Khachaturian symphonies over the weekend. It really is a shame there are so few recordings. Tjeknavorian's ASV recordings aren't good enough; his Bell is especially disappointing. My alternative for this is Khach's Russian recording (live, date given as 1977) - better played, less rushed, but ungratifying sound. I also have Gauk in 1 (1959) and Kondrashin in 3 (both in the Venezia box). Again, poor sound, and these were practically first performances. These works need modern sound, expert playing, and a broad-paced deeply-felt approach - this stuff has to be taken seriously or it doesn't really work.

I have in my sights Khachaturian's Vienna recording of the 2nd symphony, and Glushchenko's recording of the 3rd. Why are there so few to choose from???

Mirror Image

Quote from: eyeresist on June 24, 2012, 08:01:08 PM
After Arimov, I am looking for more "Eastern" music. I listened to the Khachaturian symphonies over the weekend. It really is a shame there are so few recordings. Tjeknavorian's ASV recordings aren't good enough; his Bell is especially disappointing. My alternative for this is Khach's Russian recording (live, date given as 1977) - better played, less rushed, but ungratifying sound. I also have Gauk in 1 (1947) and Kondrashin in 3 (both in the Venezia box). Again, poor sound, and these were practically first performances. These works need modern sound, expert playing, and a broad-paced deeply-felt approach - this stuff has to be taken seriously or it doesn't really work.

I have in my sights Khachaturian's Vienna recording of the 2nd symphony, and Glushchenko's recording of the 3rd. Why are there so few to choose from???

You might want to try this:

[asin]B000000AML[/asin]

Great performances and audio quality.

mc ukrneal

Quote from: eyeresist on June 24, 2012, 08:01:08 PM

I have in my sights Khachaturian's Vienna recording of the 2nd symphony, and Glushchenko's recording of the 3rd. Why are there so few to choose from???
Re: #3, this is loud and raucus and so does benefit from good sound. Thus, you will probably like the Chandos. I have it and think it ok, though I have nothing with which to compare it. It seems slow at 25 minutes (I see others go faster), but the sound is quite fantastic. I suspect Stokowski might be interpretively better here, but good luck finding that for a reasonable price. Actually, the sound (as I listen to it again) is super fantastic - lots of fanfares. And as I listen to it, I am quite bowled over. This will get your blood moving in the morning!!
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

eyeresist

#39
Quote from: mc ukrneal on June 24, 2012, 10:25:43 PMRe: #3, this is loud and raucus and so does benefit from good sound. Thus, you will probably like the Chandos. I have it and think it ok, though I have nothing with which to compare it. It seems slow at 25 minutes (I see others go faster), but the sound is quite fantastic. I suspect Stokowski might be interpretively better here,

Judging from the brief Amazon sample, Glushchenko is rather slack. Kondrashin is goes to about 24 minutes, but never lets up. Tjeknavorian is about 20 minutes, but apparently this is due to cuts. I am worried that Stokowski will rush it.


EDIT:
I think I will have to add this to my wishlist (MP3 only, sadly):

Khachaturian: Symphony 2 / Rafail Mangasarian, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra (Best Buy Classical)

Judging by the samples, the audio is not the most natural, but the intensity is extreme.