The Colorful And Exotic Music Of Armenian Composer Aram Khatchaturian
May 6th is the birthday of Aram Khatchaturian, the most famous composer of Armenia . He lived from 1903 to 1978, and was the son of Armenian parents who had settled in Tbilisi, now the capital of the republic of Georgia . Georgia and Armenia are adjacent countries, formerly part of the Soviet Union, and have ancient cultural and historical ties to each other.
Khatchaturian had grown up with the folk music of Armenia, Georgia and the Caucasus, but had virtually no formal training in music until he moved to Moscow at around the age of 20 and studied cello at the Gnesin institute in that city, and later studied composition at the Moscow consevatory with Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 -1950), a Russian composer little-known outside of that country today, but highly respected there.
Khatchaturian( the kh is pronounced as in the Jewish word Chutzpah, gutturally), combined the techniques and traditions of western music with the colorful flavor of the traditional music of his native Caucasus, and became a highly respected teacher and conductor in the Soviet Union. He also travelled widely in Europe, Asia and America, conducting his music and visiting other famous composers such as Sibelius.
Among his most famous works are concertos for violin, piano and cello, and the colorful ballet scores Gayaneh and Spartacus. Gayaneh (guy-a- neh), is a ballet about life on collective farm in Armenia the Soviet era, and its most famous excerpt is the "Sabre Dance", which you no doubt have heard. This has been used on television, radio and films for many years, but is best heard in the several suites of excerpts the composer put together from the complete ballet.
Spartacus deals with the famous slave rebellion in Rome led by the Phrygian slave of that name, and the brutal suppression of that revolt by Rome. You may remember the famous film about this starring Kirk Douglas. The ballet score is lavish, decadent, brutal and even vulgar at times, but certainly not boring.
There are three symphonies, also highly colorful. The second was written during the second world war and attempts to convey the grimness of that great conflict but ends on a triumphantly hopeful note. The third is scored for a very large orchestra, including massed trumpets.
Khatchaturian was also a close friend of such great Russian composers as Prokofiev and Shostakovich, and wrote a good deal of official cantatas and other works to glorify the Soviet regime. But none of these minor works has survived. They are essentially hackwork; but the concertos , symphonies and other works are very much worth hearing. They are highly melodious and energetic, and the orchestration is extremely colorful.
A number of eminent violinists, cellists and pianists have recorded the concertos, and the composer recorded a number of his own works. Khatchaturian may not be a Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, but his exuberant and colorful music is always highly entertaining.