Aram Khachaturian
Violin Concerto
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia (Russia), Aram Khachaturian was not Russian but Armenian. He was a self-taught pianist and played tuba in school, but he had little formal musical training and spoke almost no Russian when, at the age of 19, he moved to Moscow to live with his brother (a stage director). He showed such talent, however, that he entered the Gnessin Institute in Moscow to study cello with Mikhail Gnessin in 1922. He entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1929, and by the time he completed his graduate degree in 1937, he had successfully premiered a number of works, including a 1932 trio for clarinet, violin, and piano championed by Sergey Prokofiev, his first symphony (1934), and his piano concerto (1936).
Khachaturian was both a fervent Armenian nationalist who featured Armenian folk themes in his works, and an enthusiastic member of the communist party. He wrote the state anthem for the Armenian Socialist Republic in 1944, and his ballet Gayane (1941-2) is a story of a young girl on a collective farm who traps a spy. The ballet featured the “Sabre Dance,” which became the composer’s first popular hit. However, despite his communist allegiance, Khachaturian still ended up on the infamous blacklist of 1948 that condemned composers such as Shostakovich and Prokofiev for their ‘formalist’ music. Khachaturian was especially hurt by this since he had meant the ‘Symphony-Poem’ (Symphony No. 3, 1947) for which he was condemned “to express the Soviet people’s joy and pride in their great and mighty country” (his words). He managed to survive the blacklist, joining the faculty at the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin Academy in 1950, and beginning a long-lived European conducting career. His later compositions include film scores, incidental music, and the 1955 ballet “Spartacus.”
Khachaturian wrote his violin concerto in 1940, before his blacklist troubles began, and dedicated it to the Russian violinist David Oistrakh, who premiered the work in November of that year. The concerto was well-received and won the Lenin prize for for arts in 1941.
The opening movement, Allegro con fermezza, contrasts a vigorous first theme with a lyrical second, the latter featuring a call and response between the soloist and the woodwinds. The soloist performs two cadenzas in this movement, the second opening with a quiet duet between soloist and clarinet, then leading to the recapitulation of the first theme. The Andante sostenuto of the second movement is based in part on the style of Armenian folk musicians, called ashugs, who improvise repeated variations in an evolving, flowing pattern. A brilliant fanfare opens the final movement, Allegro vivace, which is based on the second theme from the opening movement. This folk-influenced movement is reminiscent of Armenian country dances, and features plenty of bravura fireworks for both the orchestra and the soloist.