Customer Reviews

Khachaturian: Gayne (Complete Ballet); Selections from Spartacus; Masquerade Suite

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love this ballet & performance, and have had the LP for years, so I was thrilled when it finally came out on CD. But what a disappointment -- they have butchered the CD. There is a loss of frequency on both the high & low end, with the lush strings from the LP being muffled throughout. Plus, they dynamic range is less than the LP. (And BTW, I'm not one of those "back to LP" types -- I prefer CDs). Unfortunately, this is not worth the money. Stick with the LP.

Khachaturian's Gayne Ballet (in its 1942 original version, not the 1962 revised version) is wonderful and fulfilling. The selections from "Spartacus" are a pleasurable feast for the ears, and the Masquerade & Russian Fantasy are flawless through the baton of Loris Tjeknavorian. The tempi are precise, the orchestral emotion is outstanding, and the sound quality is awfully unsatisfactory. I mean, seriously, the BMF transfer is weakly done. Half of the tracks are frail in volume, and the bass sound is heard incorrectly. All in all, if you want a complete version of Khachaturian's Gayne and the Masquerade suite, then this is the 2-CD set for you. Otherwise, you better find a more recommendable recording...if there are still any out there.

I certainly don't want to be guilty of "piling on", but RCA is guilty of a felonious assault by issuing this set. - It simply defies belief that the same record company responsible for the magnificent SACD "Living Stereo" series of reissued RCA recordings is the same one which has issued this sonic disaster! - One understands that John Newton and Soundmirror were not responsible for this atrocity, but the engineers who were responsible should hang their heads in shame and find another field of work.

Khachaturian may have composed some "junk" in his time, but a lot of this is quite good (particularly in this fine performance) and sonically it deserves at least a decent transfer from the original tapes. Three stars for the music, zero stars for the engineering. GET TO WORK, RCA!

This is not the Gayaneh Suites, but the complete (1942) version of Khachaturian's folk ballet. I've never liked the later "even more complete" version, recorded by USSR Radio and TV Large Symphony Orchestra under Kakhidze. Khachaturian's rewrite didn't add anything but a lot of connecting music between the dances which are all here, unadorned, in Tjeknavorian's recording.
I have the original RCA LPs from the late 70s and they sound quite OK so I'm a little disappointed in BMG's CD transfer. It's toppy and harsh. For some reason BMG in particular seem to think their low and mid-price labels should feature bright, toppy sonics so they'll sound exciting on cheap equipment. If that's the case, they don't know much about classical collectors- and this complete performance is definitely a collectors' item.
There are many fine and more natural sounding CDs of the ballet suites, including Khachaturian's own with the Vienna Philharmonic on Decca Legends, recorded some sixteen years earlier, and I'm also fond of Svetlanov's milder rendition on Chant du Monde. However, the best ever performance of music from Gayaneh was recorded, also in the 60s, by Deutche Grammophon, featuring the Leningrad Philharmonic conducted by Rozhdestvensky. It turns up every so often; the last incarnation was in a cheap two-fer where it was harnessed to a performance of Scheherezade you probably don't need.
4 stars for this excellent and only performance of the best complete version of Gayaneh, but a star is missing due to the ghetto-blaster reproduction.

Yes, this recording does sound a little "off" thanks to RCA's questionable job at remastering the original vinyl recordings. However, I still prefer this recording (75% of Gayaneh's original music) over the one issued by Vox (complete 2nd version) with Kakhidze and the USSR Large Symphony Orchestra.

The melodies used in the original version are much more appealing and Tjeknavorian and the Philharmonia Orchestra really seem to enjoy themselves. In contrast, Kakhidze and the Russian orchestra seem to rush through some of the dances giving the impression that they just want to get through the recording session as quickly as possible. It doesn't help that Khachaturian's editing of the original score for the 2nd version meant that some of the catchy folk-dance melodies in the 1st version were replaced with more "symphonic" pieces. Thus the Vox disc is only worthwhile if you're an avid collector of Khachaturian's music or want to study the differences between the 1st and 2nd versions of Gayaneh.

For now, this reissued recording by RCA is a lot better than nothing and I enjoy it warts and all.

After a long wait finally it is available on CD the complete recording of the ballet directed by Tjeknavorian which is by far the best of any other performance, including Khatchaturian's, I bought the LP but CD quality will make the experience extraordinary, hope it remains available for many people to enjoy this extraordinary piece of music, hope someday a release of the ballet on DVD is available.

Now there are two complete versions of this ballet out there, Kakhidze's soviet recording of the revision and Tjeknavorian's National Symphony recording of the leaner 1942 "original" which was itself a rewrite of a 1939 ballet called "Happiness"(!)
The score heard on this recording has about three quarters of all the music Khatchaturian wrote for the ballet which was, it seems, periodically revised until 1962.
Though this is for the most part a wonderful, spirited performance, I would not say it is flawless or far and away the best of all the Gaynes. There are too many rhythmic mishaps, especially in some of the earlier dances involving multiple meters, to give unalloyed pleasure. Kakhidze's with the extra padding, once available on Vox, has its claims, too, if you can find it.
This one is better recorded, though, and has nice chunks from Spartacus and Masquerade. Get it while you can!

I've been enraptured by this ballet since I stumbled across WWII recordings of 'selections' of the 1942 original back in the '60's when I was still a kid. Later in the '70's I was thrilled when Loris Tjeknavorian's rendition of the complete 1942 score was released on an LP set by RCA, and even though there were places where either the performance or audio fidelity were lacking, the spirit of the dances stood out like the older recordings.

In the '90's I tried to find it on CD but could only find the 1957(?) 'revised' Melodiya version, which seemed so different I really didn't care much for it at all. When I saw that RCA had released Tjeknavorian's recording on CD, I snapped it up, only to be a bit disappointed. I still have the LPs and despite the defects inherent in the media, the fidelity is better than the CDs. As is often the case, it's as if the LPs had been mastered in their day from new pristine tapes and the CDs years later from old ones that had lost their audio freshness.

Some years ago I actually exchanged emails with Mr. Tjeknavorian inquiring whether he knew of any plans to re-record the original 1942 score of this captivating ballet, and sadly he said that as much as he wished it could be so, the music was too obscure for labels and investors to want to bother.

A good recording of the 1957 version already exists in the Melodiya catalog. We can only hope that maybe someday an investor, perhaps Russian, will take on the project of sponsoring a fresh recording of the original 1942 version.

I bought this 2-CD set just for the first CD "Gayne", which is my favorite ballet for Khachaturian. Some times it is called "Gayne" or "Gayane" or "Gayaneh" I'm not sure why, but it is pronounced actually as "Gina". I was really disappointed when I listened to the first CD, especially "Lullaby" - it was really awful. Also, they claim it is a "Complete Ballet" and the best pieces of the Gayne ballet are missing! The only 2-CD set that I know of that has the complete Gayane ballet is "Aram Khachaturian: Gayane - A Ballet in 3 Acts". But you have pay way much more to acquire a new or even used one. But It is totally worth it if you really love the music of the "Gayane" ballet - which is an amazing masterpiece!

None here...look elsewhere. This disc, even though reasonably performed is a sonic DISASTER. Jeeeeez...a 6 year old could have done better.