Customer Reviews

Khachaturian: Piano Concerto; Gayaneh Ballet Suite; Masquerade Suite

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Many do not know Aram Khachaturian's moving, romantic music, but they would likely recognised the Sabre Dance, used everywhere commercials and cartoons or the Adagio used by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey. That frantic, almost comical Sabre Dance comes from the oh so romantic Gayne Ballet Suite along with the Adagio made famous when Kubrick chose it for his film.

But it's his Masquerade Suite I love the most. Khachaturian's music has a feel as if it should come from a contemporary of Saint Saens, instead of one living and composing in the 20th century (he died in 1978). I danced to this as a ballet dancer, and I don't know any music quite so filled my heart and soul.
Few composure can imbue their music with so much passion. The Masquerade Suites' Waltz, Romance and Nocturne are just breathtaking.

I had to hunt and hunt to find this on a record, so I so delighted to see it on CD!!

Just is nothing as beautiful! To think this same composure also gave us the Gayne Ballet and Spartacus is simply amazing.

So discover the beauty of Khachaturian!

The Orbelian/Jarvi is the best modern recording of the piano concerto bar none. Majestic and breath taking. Full of emotion and changing moods. Fair warning: Obelian playes heavy and Jarvi pulls all the stops. The result, however, is pure magic. Brilliant. If you want a lighter reading, try Serviarian-Kuhn. However, I find Serviarian's flat and lacking any emotion at all. I recommend Orbelian but music is a matter of personal preference so I encourage you to get both. You will find one of them to be a desert island CD!

The Khachaturian Piano Concerto is a blast. One of the finest pieces of 20th century music ever written and brilliantly performed by Orbelian. I loved this concerto the first time I heard it and it remains one of my favorites. This is Soviet-era music at its best. Khachaturian loved powerful rhythms and many sections are evocative of locomotives and heavy machinery. Although there is some mild dissonance in the music, it is pleasing and does not detract from the beauty in any way. The concerto is an emotionally charged work with a distinctive Armenian flavor and the second movement is pure poetry.

In the Gayaneh Ballet and Masquerade Suite, the Scottish National Orchestra pulls out all the stops and is obviously having a rollicking good time playing these terrific pieces. In addition to his love of rhythm, Khachaturian had a remarkable harmonic sense and these pieces are replete with beautiful melodies and lush orchestration. Highly recommended.

Here continues the review begun under the disc's other entry, where at the time of writing, you can find it for significantly cheaper: Khachaturian: Piano Concerto; Gayaneh Ballet Suite; Masquerade Suite. There I expound at some length why I find that, as good a "traditional" view of Khachaturian's Piano Concerto as Orbelian and Järvi's may be, the traditional view isn't all that good for Khachaturian's Piano Concerto: not only does it, by playing slower than the composer's indicated metronome marks, exaggerate the composition's bombast - and other versions have proven that, by playing actually FASTER, one can turn the bombast into hair-raising drive and intensity -, but it disrupts the tempo relationships within each movement intended by the composer. And while that kind of approach may seem unexceptionable on its own terms, one only needs to turn to the composer-conducted version with the work's dedicatee and first performer, Lev Oborin (not reissued on CD but available on U-tube) to realize how (much more) convincing it is to do exactly what Khachaturian wrote.

Although my comments will be more tentative, as I don't have many other versions to compare his to, I'm more convinced by Järvi's excerpts from Masquerade. The lush recording brings out the orchestral colors, and Järvi plays with fine character: the Waltz has great sweep, and the Nocturne flows naturally. The same is true with Gayaneh's Lullaby, but Järvi's Lezghinka (still from Gayaneh) has more epic sweep and decibel power than the frenzy elicited by the composer in his recording made for EMI in 1954 (Khachaturian: Gayane Suite for orchestra No1; Concerto for violin in Dm), and likewise with his Sabre Dance, which doesn't come near the wild fury of the composer, sounding civilized and almost tame instead. On the other hand, these same two number under Järvi are very similar to the composer's stereo remake with the Vienna Phil in 1962 (Khachaturian: Symphony No. 2; Gayaneh - Suite), even slightly more rambunctious in Lezghinka. Also note that, unlike what is announced on the disc's cover, Järvi doesn't play the complete Gayaneh-Suite but only four excerpts. I regret the absence of the Adagio, of "2001 A Space Odyssey" fame (Kubrick used the DG recording by Rozhdestvensky, which you can find on Les Chefs-d'aeuvre de la musique Russe).

This is a fine recording of Khachaturian's only piano concerto and includes the Gayaneh Ballet Suite and Masquerade Suite. I was surprised that I got a new copy of this recording after not finding it readily available anywhere else. The concerto is an unusual piece not often played. There is a mixture of dissonance and awkwardness about it, with a section where whistling, nearly off-key, treats the music like a surreal view of streaky color.

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It's been years (decades!) since I first (and last!) heard Khachaturian's Piano Concerto from 1936 on a bargain bin LP whose performers escape me. What I certainly remember is a beautiful and mournful piano melody echoed by an eerie science fiction-like timbre which I've just discovered is a flexatone, the sound of which resembles a musical saw! Overall, the concerto presents a grand Romantic statement with many Armenian folk overtones. Soloist Orbelian certainly emphasizes the percussive qualities of the opening and final movements, banging away with sharply defined staccato. I'm reminded of Prokofiev in that regard, but Khachaturian hardly delves into the modernist realm as was often the wont of his contemporary. I came away wishing for a more poetic rendering of the middle andante con anima movement (the one with the flexatone), but Orbelian still phrases the melody with a fine lyrical touch. Järvi and the SNO provide vivid accompaniment in a committed, well-integrated performance.

The Masquerade Suite is thoroughly delightful -- the concluding Galop is a hoot! However, it's the stirring performances of the four selections from the propagandist ballet Gayaneh which had me waxing nostalgic of the Ormandy/Philadelphia recording I grew up with. They just happen to be my favorite four -- Sabre Dance, Dance of the Rose Maidens, Lullaby, and Lezghinka. That last one had me unabashedly air conducting! The digital sound is vivid, spacious, and slightly reverberant in the Chandos tradition with these forces.

Khachaturian is rarely called a profound composer and this is not exactly a profound recording. Yet it is serviceable and Neeme Jarvi draws inspired playing from the Scottish National Orchestra.

The Piano Concerto in D flat major is in the virtuosic style of Rachmaninov and Lizst yet it is without the sometimes distracting bravura of Lizst's piano concerti. In its place, it has the spirit of Armenian folk music, as does all of Khachaturian's music. The first movement is in a loose sonata form, with the cadenza featuring prominently in the development. The second movement is mainly atmospheric, with an appearance of what sounds like a musical saw. It's hard to get used to at first, but on repeated listening, you'll realize how much it really adds to the piece. The last movement is brilliant, fast-paced, and hair-raisingly difficult. Yet Orbelian handles it admirably. Together with Jarvi's conducting (he tones down some of the more overblown orchestral passages) this is a charming recording. This is the piece that first made Khachaturian famous and it's easy to see why.

The Masquerade Suite comes from incidental music that Khachaturian wrote for a play by the same name. Jarvi gives a good rendition of it, especially in the Russian sounding Waltz, the central Mazurka and in the witty Galop. However, the playing isn't exactly inspired, though the players are obviously enjoying themselves.

The recording closes with "Four Movements From Gayeneh." This is not the entire ballet suite. Rather, it is four selections from the suite, including the famous Saber Dance. The movements are played well, but Khachaturian enthusiasts may prefer Tjeknavorian's recording of the entire suite. This CD does withstand repeated listening, though some may tire of Khachaturian's incessantly folksy writing. The sound is good on these recordings, though reverberant. All in all, a serviceable recording, though barely worth the high Chandos price.

Not up to the versions by William Kappel or Lorin Hollander, but this performance will have to do for now. Unfortunately this is not an often performed work and could find nothing else on Amazon other than another with a "dated sound" review by someone else. Not that inspiring but not a total loss.

I found the Masquerade Suite better than I expected. I orderded it because I played it with my youth orchestra and wanted to listen to it again...and again...and again...
I also found the piano concerto very interesting.
And we all know at least the first movement of the Gayaneh ballet, entitled the "Sabre Dance", most likely from a cartoon or movie.
Overall a great CD.