ARAM KHACHATURIAN: NATIONAL ROOTS - WORLDWIDE
RECOGNITION
- By N. Yakhontova
- June 6 marked the birth centenary of the outstanding 20th-century composer
Aram Khachaturian. An Armenian born in Tiflis (the former name of the Georgian
capital Tbilisi, he took in everything he saw around him - the hot southern
sun, the bright palette of oriental markets, the culture and traditions
of Georgians, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, for Tiflis was a multiethnic
city and each community was trying to preserve its identity. "I am
convinced that there can be no true art without ethnic roots. What I mean
is not purely ethnographic sources, but something larger - art is rooted
deep in the history of a people, its lifestyle and mentality, rites and
individual characters".

- At the age of 19, Khachaturian goes to Moscow where he enrolls in the
just-opened Gnesins Higher Music School and later in Moscow Conservatory.
He literally burst into music with his vibrant and colorful pieces based
on Caucasian folk tunes: the Dance Suite, the Trio for Clarinet, Violin
and Piano, the 1st Symphony, and the 1st Piano Concerto dubbed by critics
a "feast of sounds". By the way, it was this concerto that earned
the young composer international recognition. His 2nd Symphony written
during World War II takes as a theme the wrath of the Soviet people in
its struggle for humanity, the courage and valor of Soviet soldiers fighting
on the battlefield and heroes of the home front, and their will for victory.
- Starting from 1950 Aram Khachaturian toured many countries as a conductor
of his own pieces. The same year he began teaching music in Moscow Conservatory.
"He could express the torments and passions of an Armenian soul",
says Khachaturian's disciple Andrei Eshpai. "Whereas his great compatriot
Komitas sort of locked his music in a temple, Khachaturian held his talent
open to the world, not merely "quoting" Caucasian folklore, but
creating his own language and images. The closer a composer sticks to his
ethnic roots, the more interesting he is. Khachaturian's music is vibrant
with energy and life."
- Nearly all of Khachaturian's versatile legacy entered the golden fund
of Soviet music. His ballet "Spartacus" was staged across the
world and is continuously revived. Millions of music lovers know his waltz
from the film "Masquerade" based on Mikhail Lermontov's drama.
And his Dance With Sabres from the ballet Gayane is one of the most widely
performed 20th-century pieces.
- Khachaturian's turbulent nature made him a prominent public figure:
he combined a leading post in the Soviet Composers' Union with membership
in the Soviet Committee for the Protection of Peace and presidency in the
Association for Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with Latin-American
Countries. A doctor of the arts, he was elected honorary member of a number
of foreign academies.
- Khachaturian's optimistic impulsive and temperamental music representing
an organic mix of oriental and western cultures is on the playbill of music
festivals in his honor, launched in Moscow and in the Armenian capital
Yerevan where a concert hall and a street were named after him and where
he was laid to rest in the local pantheon. Khachaturian is the author of
Armenia's former hymn adopted in 1994. In 1990 it was replaced with another
one, but now most Armenian art figures say they want the old hymn back.
THE MASTER OF MUSIC YEVGENY MRAVINSKY
- O. Bugrova
- June 4 marked the 100th birth anniversary of the famous Russian conductor
Yevgeny Mravinsky.
- Mravinsky symbolizes a whole epoch in the Russian music culture of
the 20th century. For 5 decades he directed the Leningrad Philharmonic
Orchestra, one of the oldest Russian orchestras set up in 1882. Today it's
called St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, but many keep calling it
the "Mravisnky orchstra".

- Mravinsky was 35 when he took over the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra,
a fairly young age for a conductor. However, his personal achievements
by that time had been quite impressive: after graduating from the Leningrad
(St. Petersburg) Conservatory, he worked at the Kirov, now Mariinsky Theatre,
for a few years and then won the 1st all-Russia conductors' competition.
His colleagues recall that he held the orchestra in full control, his gestures
were emotional and expressive but never ostentatious despite his rare,
Nordic beauty. In 1937 Mravinsky premiered Shostakovich's 5th Symphony
at the Leningrad Philharmonic. Both the author and the conductor, hardly
over 30, received a half-an-hour standing ovation. The two worked together
for years afterwards. Mravinsky, dubbed "a lifetime missionary of
Shostakovich's symphonies", confessed that Shostakovich's music had
deeply impressed him and filled his life with important content.
- Although not big, according to modern standards, Mravinsky's repertoire
contained "weighty" pieces. He felt drawn to musical drama verging
on tragedy: symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Brahms,
Bruckner, Prokofiev, Wagner. In later years Mravinsky focused his efforts
on the interpretation of 20th-century composers, including Bartok and Stravinsky.
As a conductor he had some dictatorial features that brought him closer
to Arturo Toskanini. Laconic and ascetic in words and gestures, he could
hypnotize musicians with his strict gaze. However, during concerts the
impression was that playing music was the only form in which the musicians
could exist.
- The Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra was the first Soviet orchestra
to be allowed to perform abroad. Over the past decades it has toured Europe,
Japan and the United States, ranking among the world's best music collectives.
30-minute ovations and epithets like "brilliant", "phenomenal",
"incomparable" were a norm. The Vienna Express wrote about Mravinsky's
orchestra: "Like any extraordinary personality, the Leningrad orchestra
is unique in its own way. The rich and full sound of the strings is set
off by the rolling elegance of the brass… Lyricism with a grain of heroics,
pathos never overdone but triumphant … Mravinsky conducts in a free-flowing
and clear-cut manner. A mere turn of the head - and the orchestra obeys
his will. A rare master of music and musicians…"
-
- 06/20/2003
BACK TO MAIN PAGE