Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) Violin Concerto in D minor Allegro con fermezza Andante sostenuto Allegro vivace Khachaturian was one of the most successful composers of the Soviet era in Russian history. He successfully managed to combine the folk music of his native Armenia with the more formal Russian musical tradition as represented by Rimsky-Korsakov. Born in 1903 in Tbilisi, the Capital of Georgia, he showed early signs of a love of music, but his formal training only began in 1922 when he was admitted to the famous Gnessin Music School in Moscow, his family having moved there the previous year. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatoire with the eminent composer, Miaskovsky. International acclaim greeted his rumbustious Piano Concerto of 1936, the success of which was quickly duplicated with the Violin Concerto of 1940. Throughoutthe 1940s Khachaturian composed many successful works, such asthe ballet Gayaneh with its famous Sabre Dance, his Second Symphony (1943) and Cello Concerto (1946). In 1947 he was criticized for'excessive formalism'and as a result concentrated on composing film scores. In the early 1950s he added teaching and conducting to his work as a composer. Following the death of Stalin in 1953 he was one of the first musicians to propose greater freedom for composers. In 1954 he composed the music for the ballet Spartacus, the Suite from which is probably his best known work, not least because of the stunning Adagio, used as the theme for the 1970s British TV series The Onedin Line. Khachaturian died in 1978, an established figure within Russian music. Khachaturian wrote his Violin Concerto for the distinguished Soviet Violinist David Oistrakh (1908-74), who throughout his career performed new compositions as well as works from the Standard repertoire. He welcomed pieces by his countrymen and was the Inspiration for works by Prokofiev and Shostakovich, amongst many others. Considering the political climate of the time when Khachaturian's Violin Concerto was composed, 1940 and the onset of the Second World War, it is not surprising that it is a work which it is immediately easy to assimilate and to understand. The Concerto possesses a conventional design that was common to concertos written during the previous Century and is throughout very tuneful. Its three movements progress from a driving opening, through a slower, more lyrical, middle movement, to an energetic finale. The solo violin has brilliant passages throughout, framed by strong orchestral writing, and the outer movements are further enlivened with the use of vibrant percussion.The lyrical middle movement serves as a foil to these vigorous outer movements, with their driving rhythms and spirited tunes, and its main melody is garnished with a turning gesture that has a particular poignance. David Patmore
