ARAM KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978): Suite from Gayane (Philharmonia Orchestra; Aram Khachaturian. rec. 1954), 5 excerpts from Spartacus (Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra; Alexander Gauk. rec. 1957), Suites from Masquerade, Op. 48a and The Widow from Valencia, Op. 45 (Moscow Symphony Orchestra; Veronika Dudarova. rec. 1987), Music from the Film Othello (USSR State Symphony Orchestra; Gennady Katz. rec. 1956), Greeting Overture, Op. 91, Suite from music for the Film The Battle of Stalingrad, Op. 74a (Moscow RSO; Khachaturian. rec. 1959), Triumphal Poem, Op, 75 (USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchesta; Emin Khachaturian. rec. 1982), Symphony No. 2 in E Minor "Bell", Op. 56 (USSR State SO; Khachaturian. rec. 1977), Fantasy on Russian Themes, Op. 59 (Moscow Radio SO; Sergei Gorchkov. rec. 1946), Concerto-Rhapsodies for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 96 (Leonid Kogan [violin], Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin. rec. 1962) and for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 99 (Mstislav Rostropovich [cello], USSR State SO; Evgeny Svetlanov. rec. 1964), TOLIBKHON SHAKHIDI (b.1946): Rhapsody-Dialogue on Themes of Aram Khachaturian for Piano and Orchestra (Vazgen Vartanian [piano], Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra; Sergei Skripka. rec. 2013).
Catalogue Number: 04P069
Label: Melodiya
Reference: MEL CD 10 02146
Format: CD
Price: $69.98
Description: This is an anniversary box. The Russians must have a weird sense of prominent anniversaries since last year, the year it was issued over there, is the 110th of the composer's birth. Whatever. There is quite a bit of rare Khachaturian here although some of it has been out on various labels in the last 25 years. The rarest? That would have to be the 1956 recording by a conductor I've never heard of before (Gennady Katz) of 21 minutes of music for a film of Othello and the six-minute Fantasy on Russian Themes of 1944 recorded only two years later by an equally obscure stick-waver (Sergei Gorchakov). Brand new is the 12-minute Rhapsody-Dialogue, composed for this anniversary by Shakhidi, a student of Khachaturian whose extravagantly colorful music we offered last summer (07O084), who adds flavor by including the duduk, an Armenian wind instrument in the orchestration. 5 CDs.
