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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