Customer Reviews

Khachaturian: Symphony 2 / Gayaneh

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
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For years, it was difficult to find a recording of this piece. It's still not nearly as well known as it should be. This is a magnificent work, and it does LOUD in a magnificent way that only Khachaturian can. I think this work should be among the "top 100 pieces of music of the 20th century" and it's a shame it hasn't been well enough known to be on that list in most people's minds.

Trumpets. Lots of trumpets. Horns. Lots of horns. Did I mention lots of trumpets? This piece requires considerable augmentation of the standard symphony orchestra. (I have the score. I love reading brass parts while they are playing.)

Please listen to this, and then call your classical station and request them to play it, too, so that it will become as well known as it deserves.

I liked Khachaturian's 'Masquerade Suite' a lot and decided to give this symphony a shot. WOW. How did this elude me for all these years? Why is this work relatively obscure? It is a profoundly riveting, lush and moving symphony. One can almost hear a question being put to the Russian people as the German army is invading: "We are being attacked, comrades. Well, what are we going to do about it?" The answer in musical terms is to fight back with the spirit of a thousand trumpets. Toward the end of the symphony the 'questioning' motif suddenly reappears--only this time with confidence and victorious inspiration. This is a masterpiece that you'll want to listen to over and over again. And then, if you are like me, you'll want to listen to his 3rd Symphony which is also mind blowing--and even LOUDER.

From all three available recordigns of Khachaturian's Symphony No.2, I would rank this one between No#1 (Khachaturian/VPO) and No#3 (Tjerknavorjan/Armenian PO). But due to terrible, unacceptably poor sound quality of Decca VPO recording, many people will choose slightly worse interpretation with Jarvi, instead of ultimate, but badly recorded Khachaturian's own one. Anyway, this recording of the symphony is good.
Few excerpts from Gayaneh are not good, honestly - they are performed really messily (sorry to say this) - so I am not rating it with any stars. For this composition, I'd strongly recommend you Temirkanov with Royal Philharmonic, they are unbeatable.

If you need an introduction into the music of Khachaturian, please pick this cd up. Khachaturian may be Armenian and Jarvi may be Estonian, but the all around soviet furor is alive and well in this piece.

I had an earlier recording of this symphony with Khachaturian conducting the VPO, and its a revelation. But i wanted a digital version and was pleased to pick this one up.

The trumpets blare, the horns blare, the strings are sensual, and the GONG is terrifying. You will want to play this cd loudly to achieve its thunderous effects. You will not be disapointed either.

I would pay close attention to the last two mins. of this piece as it speaks to you in gentle somber and pain and becomes increasingly violent and angry - bells tolling, trumpets screaming, and gong crashing to a most haunting climax.

its a real treat!

This was my introduction to Khachaturian's Symphony No. 2 from 1943, the year the composer and Shostakovich were sequestered with their families at a rural retreat set up by the Soviet government for wartime creative work. This also produced one of the most powerful symphonies of the century and a personal favorite in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8. Khachaturian's symphony, however, is not nearly as emotionally devastating. I'd liken it more to Shostakovich's earlier Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" in its overall evocation of patriotic fervor in the face of an invading enemy. In my opinion, the Khachaturian is a more musically elaborate symphonic statement than that earlier work -- still by equal turns somber, powerfully pictorial, and ultimately optimistic -- but this isn't quite so transparently jingoistic. I certainly feel compelled to revisit this as there's much here to both savor as music and to ponder as expression.

The stirring performances of the four selections from the propagandist ballet Gayaneh 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 fine digital sound is vivid, spacious, and slightly reverberant in the Chandos tradition with these forces.

It is another great and smart selection from Chandos. Maestro Neeme Järvi,
is a wonderful wizard in russian music, as usual, and this performance is no
exception. Despite it is marginally preferred the definitive version of this
symphony, it is interesting to know the original composer's conceptions on
the work. Järvi and his scottish forces do a great job and deliver a great
musical document.