Customer Reviews

Khachaturian: Gayanne Suites Nos. 1-3

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

 

 

You'd think if anyone was going to bother recording three separate suites from a ballet, they'd go ahead and record the whole ballet. Unfortunately not. But to Naxos' credit, this particular recording is fairly comprehensive, touching on most of Khachturian's ideas and thematic material. After a long search, I finally located a full 2-CD recording of the ballet with the USSR Radio and Television Large Symphony Orchestra under Djansug Kakhidze on the Russian Disc label. The ballet in its full context is beautiful, whereas the suites turn the pieces into small, individual concert pieces (Sabre dance is the epitome of this). Does the ballet really need to be cut into large suites in order to salvage the music, or will the recording industry one day realize the demand there is for a full, attainable Gayaneh recording? While the suites are nice, hearing the ballet in its context and entirity is essential to the Khachaturian lover.

While I do adore the 3-suite version on this Naxos CD, I'm still waiting for the complete version of Khachaturian's Gayane ballet music. Since all the other complete Gayane CD's are out of stock, I have to rely on this Naxos CD and the 1942 complete original version on RCA (with Tjeknavorian as conductor) and that one has preposterous sound quality. I'll be waiting years on for any studio (whether it be Deutsche Grammophon or Decca or Chandos or so forth) to sell the complete version (any version) on disc.

Khachaturian wrote beautiful music and Gayane is probably hisbest. And though inexpensive, this recording is not bad at all. A pityit's only 56 minutes playing time. It's also the only Gayane Ballet Suite CD available at amazon.com - a shame! I wished there was a complete suite available - hours of beautiful music! But I guess we should feel lucky there's at least this one. I keep listening to it again and again...

Khachaturian? Wait a second, I know him. He wrote "Sabre Dance" - didn't he?

Unfortunately, this is what most of the world knows of the Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978). In fact, Khachaturian was a composer of three symphonies, three concertos, three concerto-rhapsodies and a host of other works. Yes, it is true that Khachaturian did compose "Sabre Dance" but that piece is just a single dance movement from one of Khachaturian's ballets, "Gayane." And, (I hope I am not ruining this piece for anybody), "Sabre Dance" has nothing to do with spinning plates on top of sticks or any other silly antic.

Actually, Khachaturian's compositions are heavily steeped in the rich musical tradition of Armenia. The Gayane ballet takes place on a rural farm in Armenia and was very popular throughout the Soviet Union during World War II. This music is simple and unpretentious, but is filled with an ethnic charm that is infectious. If there was one word to would be used to describe the music of Khachaturian it would be "colorful." Take the exotic, yet sensuous, "Dance of the Girls" (Track 7), scored for flutes, drum, and muted trumpet, for instance. I particularly enjoy Khachaturian's use of endearing melodies, which frequently appear with surprisingly simple, yet effective, countermelodies, such as in "Harvest Holiday" (Track 6). Khachaturian's music is often quite beautiful as well. As an example, the "Lullaby" (Track 10) contains a lovely melody, in which haunting echoes of previously heard dance themes appear in the background.

And how about the "Sabre Dance" (Track 11)? Well, the performance here is quite good. I actually find this piece more enjoyable when it is decoupled from all of the hours of silly video I've seen paired with this piece - as difficult as this may be. This dance is actually a Kurdish war dance, in which the dancers display their sword skills. I actually prefer the relatively subdued second theme of the dance, which appears twice, once by itself, then accompanied by a flute countermelody.

This does not need to be a long review, as all you really need to know is to get this music. The quicker movements are lively and exciting; the slow movements are lovely; while the whole ballet is imbued with an exotic charm that is immediately identifiable as Khachaturian. The overall performance and sound quality is good. I won't fault this release for not being the complete ballet, as the music presented here is wonderful. But I will agree that a new recording of the complete work should be made.

Highly recommended!!

56:02

Buyers be warned...if you love this music as I and the other critics here seem to, read Eric S. Kim's review. He's got it exactly right...

So why do "I" give it only three stars? - Because these 'bleeding chunks' which Naxos has issued are POORLY PLAYED, that's why, - and the only thing which can be said for RCA's disgracefully engineered recording of the entire score is that it is that the (English) National Philharmonic Orchestra plays it beautifully from what little can be heard, and the score is magnificently interpreted by Loris Tjeknavorian.

The truth is this wonderful ballet score deserves better. If RCA apparently cannot restore the masters of their recording of the complete score, done by one the greatest recording teams in history, then somebody else should so justice to ALL of this great score. What Naxos has done here will not suffice.

Khachaturian: Gayanne Suites Nos. 1-3 is a 1993 Naxos recording under the direction André Anichanov who leads the St Petersburg State Symphony. Keith Anderson has written the music notes. Khachaturian sounds a lot like Strauss and some influence from Dvorak. A very enjoyable recording. Highly recommended. 5/5.

I love this vibrant and sad work! Definitely able to feel the struggle of life and death throughout. Beautiful!