Mixed Media

CD of the Month

The Dancing Violin

Everyone knows Aram Khachaturian's Saber Dance; it is as popular as Ravel's Boléro or Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. On a CD dedicated to Khachaturian's music, this evergreen cannot be missing, and David Haroutunian lets his bow dance as if he were reviving his centuries-old violin. The model is Jascha Heifetz, who once reworked individual numbers from the ballet Gayaneh for his virtuoso performances.

More important are the two recordings presented here for the first time: the early work Dance No. 1, already marked in 1926 by an inspiring exploration of the folklore of Khachaturian's Armenian homeland. And then the two-movement Sonata for Violin and Piano which the composer presumably never approved for publication because it didn't turn out to be too folksy, like most of his other works. Although rhythmic and almost gripping, it demonstrates how varied his compositions could have been if it hadn't been for his repeated self-censorship. David Haroutunian interprets it masterfully in collaboration with Xénia Maliarevitch. Here, and even more so in the Sonata-monologue for Solo Violin, one notices how much his fellow countryman's music means to him.

Hartmut Regitz

Aram Khachaturian: Sonata for Violin and Piano, Sonata monologue, Saber Dance and others;
www.outhere-music.com