Khachaturian: Spartacus (excerpts)

The splendour of Russia’s ballet tradition is evoked in spectacular scores by Rimsky-Korsakov, Khachaturian and Glazunov, while Shostakovich espouses modernism – and ‘Tea for Two’. The exotic Scheherazade, which inspired a steamy harem scenario from Diaghilev and Fokine, is here entrusted to Riccardo Muti. Aram Khachaturian himself conducts excerpts from Spartacus – including the sweepingly romantic and justly celebrated Adagio; another, contracting highlight comes with the fiery Sabre Dance from the same composer’s Gayaneh.

‘Not a hair of a note was out of place; this was a performance by a world-class orchestra’ The Times

Kirill Karabits is without doubt one of the most exciting conductors of the younger generation.

Now principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, his reputation over two seasons has continued to spread around the world, and the steady stream of great artists working with him and the BSO is testament to his artistry and huge talent.

This CD is the first release in the new partnership between the BSO and ONYX.

Khachaturian’s vividly colourful and deliciously tuneful ballet scores have been popular as orchestral showpieces ever since the ballets had their premieres.

Kirill has made his own selection from the score, and those who want the famous Adagio from Spartacus and the Sabre Dance from Gayaneh will not be disappointed!

The second BSO release from ONYX will appear in 2011, and the programme will be Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

The Sabre Dance and the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia may be Khachaturian’s most familiar works, but his colourful style and orchestral flair comes out in all his music, from the virtuoso concertos with their rhapsodic oriental-flavoured slow movements, to the satirical glitter of the Masquerade Suite.

Aram Khachaturian was born in 1903 into a poor Armenian family in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, which was then part of Imperial Russia and later the USSR. After moving to Moscow he took up studies with Myaskovsky at the Conservatoire, eventually becoming a professor there. In spite of having been an enthusiastic communist he was, in 1948, severely denounced by the Soviet authorities (along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich) for writing what they termed 'formalist' music: music that did not appeal to the masses. Khachaturian's works include some of the best-known music in the 20th-Century repertoire, most notably the ballets Gayaneh (from which comes the ever-popular Sabre Dance) and Spartacus, the Adagio from which was used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Suites from both of these works are contained in this set, along with a fine recording of the Piano Concerto that is making it's first appearance on CD, and David Oistrakh's incomparable recording of the Violin Concerto conducted by the composer.