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Monday, January 16, 2012
 Angel Records LP: Khatchaturian Conducst "Gayane" and "Masquerade" Suites This Angel Records LP is a genuine rarity: Aram Khachaturian conducting his own work with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Khachaturian’s fame rests primarily with his two Romantic ballets, Gayane and Spartacus. To me his music always sounds a bit like Rimsky-Korsakov with an Armenian folk flavor thrown in — always cheerful, even in the tragic moments — a quality which makes his ballets picturesque rather than moving.
The first of his balletic masterpieces, Gayane, contains the famous “Sabre Dance,” one of the great orchestral warhorses, even more famous than “Gayane’s Adagio,” used by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The composer extracted three orchestral suites from the full score, but this LP contains selections from the ballet itself. Khachaturian’s scores for the suites exist in different versions, and it’s almost impossible to pin down the exact structure of the suites.
Khachaturian – Gayane Suite
 1. Dance of the Young Maidens
2. Ayesha’s Awakening and Dance
3. Lullaby
4. Gayane’s Adagio
5. Lezghinka
6. Lyrical Duet
7. Dance of the Old Men and Women
8. Sabre Dance
Included on the LP is Masquerade (suite from the incidental music). Khachaturian followed in the footsteps of Alexander Glazunov in writing incidental music for the drama Masquerade by the obscure Russian playwright and poet Mikhail Lermontov. I’ve always loved Khachaturian’s orchestration of this piece, big and splashy, not a hint of darkness.
Khachaturian – Masquerade Suite
1. Waltz
2. Nocturne
3. Mazurka
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
 VOX LP: Mendelssohn and Bruch Violin Concertos Ivry Gitlis is one of the great Israeli violinists. His career as a virtuoso and teacher has spanned over eighty years and he is still going strong. He will celebrate his 90th birthday this August. Renowned for his tours, he has played with his “Sancy” Stradivarius of 1713 with the best orchestras of the world under the direction of such famous conductors as Szell, Ormandy, Mehta, Kertesz, and Dorati. He has also been a great musical and cultural ambassador, serving as a musical ambassador to the Soviet Union for Israel, and in 1990 as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
This VOX LP features Gitlis playiing with the Pro Musica Symphony, Vienna, under the direction of Hans Swarowsky, who studied conducting under Richard Strauss. Gitlis’ playing of the opening bars of Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E Minor establishes immediately an impassioned romantic mood. His performance of these immortal phrases is deft and masterful. Gitlis finds the delightfully dreamy mood of the second movement, and the third demonstrates his renowned talents to the utmost. This disc was my first exposure to Gitlis, whose sound is natural and strikes a perfect balance with the orchestra.
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E-
 1. Allegro molto apposionato
2. Andante
3. Allegretto non troppo: Allegro molto vivace
In the first movement of the Bruch concerto, there is something songful about Gitlis’ playing of the second subject following upon the intense double-stops of the first theme. The Adagio is a nostalgic aria, a real heart-on-sleeve performance; the final Allegro, a joyful Hungarian dance. Despite some fairly gloomy passages in this work, Gitlis ultimately finds the real joy at its core.
Bruch – Violin Concerto No.1 in G-, Op.26
1. Prelude: Allegro moderato.mp3
2. Adagio
3. Finale: Allegro energico
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Sunday, January 8, 2012
 Nonesuch LP: The Four Seasons These four concertos for violin and orchestra are the first of a set of twelve published in Amsterdam in 1725 titled Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, or The Trial of Harmony and Invention. Each concerto takes its structure from a sonnet, possibly written by Vivaldi, printed in the principal violin’s partbook, each on the theme of the respective season. The concertos remained popular long after Vivaldi’s death, particularly in France (where “Spring” was a favorite of the French court). Yet despite not being republished until 1950, Le quattro stagioni is now the most recorded piece of classical music — a legacy of its popularity on classical music radio stations from the 1950s to the 70s.
With their descriptive tonal painting of the seasons, these composition were considered daring and highly inventive — still are even today. After listening to many different recordings, both on period and modern instruments, one can’t help but be impressed with the vivid effects Vivaldi packs into his score. On this Nonesuch recording featuring violinist Reinhold Barchet, Southwest German Chamber Orchestra delivers a fairly standard interpretation under the baton of Paul Hindemith’s former student Friedrich Tilegant.
Concerto No. 1, “Spring” — The sonnet accompanying this concerto tells us that in the Largo “the goatherd sleeps with his trusty dog beside him”; the languorous musical setting is interrupted by the “barking” of a dog on the solo viola.
 1. Allegro
2. Largo
3. Allegro
Concerto No. 2, “Summer” — After the scorching sun beats down on the farm laborers, a storm looms in the distance, breaking in the third movement into a thunderous hailstorm matched by a “hail” of rapid passagework in the orchestra and solo.
1. Allegro non molto
2. Adagio
3. Presto
Concerto No. 3, “Autumn” — “Autumn” opens with a peasant dance celebrating the harvest and concludes with a hunt — complete with horns, guns, and dogs — that eventually brings down a wild stag.
1. Allegro
2. Adagio molto
3. Allegro
Concerto No. 4, “Winter” —“Winter” depicts first the shivering of peasants and the chattering of teeth, then relaxing moments by the fire, and finally the abundant joy of sliding on the ice and the sound of the whistling winter winds.
1. Allegro non molto
2. Largo
3. Allegro
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