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Piano Concerto

Despite not visiting his Armenian 'homeland'untit 1939, he conscious[y set out to evokehis Armenian heritage through an explorationof the countryb fotk music, not least in hisvibrant Piano Concerto of 1936.

Wartime acctaimKhachaturianb Piano Concerto was the frrstofthree concertos he composed forthemembers of the revered Soviet piano triocomprising Lev Oborin (piano), David Oistrakh(vioti n) and Sviatoslav Knushevitsky (cetto).And, as so of[en, its unoffrcial premierewas something of a frasco, with Oborinbashing away to litt[e effect on an uprightpiano, accompanied by an under-rehearsedorchestra, at a concert in a Moscow park.

The performance was soon repeated with theMoscow Philharmonic under Lev Steinberg,however, and the Concerto was an overnightsuccess, warmLy received by audiences,critics and Soviet officialdom. lt was also thefrrst work to bring Khachaturian to seriousrecognition in the West - he found his musicstrongly promoted in Europe once the USSRhad joined with the Alties against the Nazis.

Scottand's Nationa[ Orchestra 11

The Piano ConcertoS frrst UK performancewas a prestigious premiere in war-tornLondon, with Moura Lympany as soloistand the London Philharmonic Orchestraconducted by Atan Bush, in March 1940.

The musicThe frrst movement begins with anunmistakab[e orchestral ca[[ to attention,before the piano enters with the movementbfrrst main theme, crisp, rhythmic and fu[[ ofclangorous octaves. AfLer a grand orchestralrestatement of the same theme, the pianointerrupts with the frrst of its many virtuosicsolo passages, before the movementb secondmain theme, a fotk-tike metody for solo oboe.The piano ruminates in a free[y rhapsodicstyle on this quieter, more reflective materia[,before the pace suddenly quickens andsnatches of the opening metody are thrownaround between brass and woodwind. Themovement's ctangorous opening music soonreturns, followed by the oboe's fo[k tunenow on flute and ctarinet, then the piano'sruminations re-emerge as a traditionalcadenza, faster and flashier than earlier.The movement ends with a huge, defrnitive

ARAM KHACHATURIAN

BORN 1903, Tbitisi, GeorgiaDIED l-978, Moscow, USSRFIRST PERFORMANCE 1-2 July 1-937,Moscow, by Lev Oborin (piano) and theMoscow Phi[harmonic Orchestra conductedby Lev SteinbergDURATION 35 minutes

7 Allegro mq non troppo e moestoso2 Andonte con onimo3 Altegro brillqnte

ln many ways, Aram Khachaturian wasthe very modeI of a faithfuI Soviet artist.His career arguabty reached its peak in1957, when he was appointed to the hightyinftuentiat post of Secretary of the Union ofSoviet Composers, a role he stayed in unti[his death in 1978. That came after joiningthe Communist Party in 1943, becomingprofessor of composition at the MoscowConservatoire in 1950, and being honouredas a People's Artist of the USSR, the SovietUnionb uttimate cu[tural acco[ade, in 1954.

Khachatu rian remained enthusiastic aboutcommunism aLL his tife. And in fact, heput his entire musical career down to theadvent of the Soviet Union. Born in 1903to an Armenian fami[y in muLticulturalTbitisi, Georgia, he tived through the 1917BoLshevlk Revotution, then a brief periodof independence for his homeland, andfrna[[y Georgia's fatt to Soviet ruLe in 1920.His bookbinder father had been too poor toencourage his son s musical talents, but thenew possibiLities opened up by the Sovietsystem sudden[y made it possible for Aramto travel to Moscow - even at the advancedage of 19 - and study at the prestigiousGnessin SchooL, and then at the MoscowConservatoire.

Later in his tife, Khachaturian came in for hisfair share ofstate censure, being accused -along with Prokofrev and Shostakovich - ofthe dreaded 'formalism' (in other words, ofcreating music that was too advanced forthe masses to enjoy) in the notorious 1948Zhdanov decree. He made a fu[t and publicapotogy for his artistic 'errors', but carriedon regardLess with his colourfuL, often exoticmusical style - and found himself restored tooffrcial favour later the same year.

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restatement of the opening melody - as ifthe composer wants us to remember it forthe rest of the Concerto.

Khachaturian indicated that the [ush, exoticsecond movement's main theme was adrastic modifrcation of a very popular oldArmenian song, which even native Armenianswou[d be hard-pushed to recognise. After asLinky protogue from the bass clarinet, thepiano introduces the Armenian theme highup in its register, and when it comes back itson the striking combination of frrst violins andghostly flexatone (see right). A short sectiondevelops the fotk-inspired tune, buitding toa thundering restatement on violins, hornsand hammered piano chords. Ca[m soonreturns, however - together with the sLinkybass cLarinet so[o - and the movement endsenigmaticalty with a coup[e of ambigiouschords from the soloist.

The third movement is a breathLess, heLter-skelter race through jazzy, syncopatedmateria[ frrst introduced by a solo trumpet,and with the piano soloist later given along, powerfulcadenza with a distinctivetyorientat-sou nd ing atmosphere. A scamperingcLosing section seems about to propeI usinto a throwaway ending, but Khachaturiansuddenly swerves sideways into a hugerestatement of the frrst movement'sclangorous openingtheme, which drives themovement on to a powerfu[, a[[-consumingcIimax.

@ David Kettle.201"5

Ghostty tonesIt might play for just a few bar:s, but theftexatone is a striking presence in thesecond movement of Khichaturian sPiano Concerto. lnvented in the l-920sand originatty used lor sound effects injazz bands, the flexatone was soon takenup by ctassical composers fascinaEed byits weird, otherworldLy sound. Not fOrnothing has it been used in countlessmovie soundtracks (especialty onesinvo[ving spooks or aliens), but it also :appears in Schoenberg's Variations forOrchestraiand his opera Moses and Aoron,and in ShostakoviihS oper.as lhe Noseand Lody Mocbeth ofMtsen5k, amongmany other classical works.

The instrument itself is very simpte,consisting of a ftexibte steeL strip withina metal frame, with two wooden beatersfixed eith,er side of it. The player ho,[dsthe frame with their thumb on the endof the ftexibte steeI strip, shaking Eheinstrument from side to side,so thaf thebeaters hit the s[eel strip, and controt[ingthe steel strip's tension (and thereforethe pitch of the instrumen!) with theirthumb - the harderthey press, thehigher the no[e.