Aram Khachaturian is remembered mostly for his dance and theatrical scores, above all the colorful Gayane (1943) with its irresistible "Sabre Dance." That work is almost contemporaneous with the Symphony No. 2 ("The Bell") recorded here, but the differences are vast. The symphony is a product of Russian wartime, complete with brass fanfares, tolling tubular bells, and gloomy melodies, but it is an image of war rather than the experience of war embodied by the music of Shostakovich from this period, and the Russian ...
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Aram Khachaturian is remembered mostly for his dance and theatrical scores, above all the colorful Gayane (1943) with its irresistible "Sabre Dance." That work is almost contemporaneous with the Symphony No. 2 ("The Bell") recorded here, but the differences are vast. The symphony is a product of Russian wartime, complete with brass fanfares, tolling tubular bells, and gloomy melodies, but it is an image of war rather than the experience of war embodied by the music of Shostakovich from this period, and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky at times bogs down in its passagework. A stronger recommendation for this album comes from the Lermontov Suite (1959): incidental music not for a dramatization of Mikhail Lermontov's dark writings, but for a play about the author. Given that there is another 15 minutes of room on the CD version, one would have liked to hear more than the three excerpts presented here; the music is vivid, brassy, and pure Khachaturian. Sample the "Mazurka" (track...
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Add this copy of Khachaturian: Symphony No. 2-the Bell to cart. $28.97, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Naxos.
Add this copy of Khachaturian: Symphony No. 2 [Russian Philharmonic to cart. $36.74, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2016 by NAXOS.
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