Khachaturian: Spartacus / Khachaturian, Vienna Philharmonic
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CD Details
Composer: Alexander GlazunovComposer: Aram Khachaturian
Conductor: Aram Khachaturian
Conductor: Ernest Ansermet
Orchestra: L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-04-11
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
- Spartacus, ballet: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
- Spartacus, ballet: Variation of Aegina and Bacchanalia
- Spartacus, ballet: Scene and dance with crotala
- Spartacus, ballet: Dance of Gaditanae and victory of Spartacus
- Gayane, ballet in 4 acts: Sabre dance
- Gayane, ballet in 4 acts: Aysheh's awakening and dance
- Gayane, ballet in 4 acts: Lezghinka
- Gayane, ballet in 4 acts: Gayaneh's Adagio
- Gayane, ballet in 4 acts: Gopak
- The Seasons, ballet, Op. 67: Winter
- The Seasons, ballet, Op. 67: Spring
- The Seasons, ballet, Op. 67: Summer
- The Seasons, ballet, Op. 67: Autumn
Music reviews of Khachaturian: Spartacus / Khachaturian, Vienna Philharmonic
Music Review: Buyer Beware
Rating: 1 Stars
When I purchased this CD, I had no idea that I would be listening to extracts of the two Khachaturian ballet suites, Spartacus and Gayaneh. I received the package from Amazon and excitedly opened the wrapping only to find--on the BACK of the CD--that both suites were labelled "extracts".
I know the Spartacus suite pretty well, and upon listening to it, was further horrified to find that Decca had also reordered the various sections or "pieces" of the entire work. First to be heard is the fabulous love duet between Spartacus and and his wife--the most famous piece of the masterpiece, but NOT the first piece, as originally composed by Khachaturian. It is the third piece and very much needs the build-up of the first two pieces. While listening, I became even more incensed when I realized that Decca had actually lopped off a few minutes of select pieces.
I can never listen to this CD because I do not want my mind polluted with a cut-and-paste version of the Spartacus Suite, and I am only thankful that I already knew it well enough to realize that it was not genuine.
All of the previous reviewers were overwhelmed by the beauty of Khachaturian's work, but somehow I doubt that they would want to learn a version that was incorrectly ordered and abridged.
It's well worth hearing Khachaturian conduct his own gorgeous music--he drives the orchestra relentlessly, forcing it to bring all the sweetness and pathos of the music to life. I could not recommend a composer or a suite more highly than Khachaturian's Spartacus. But, not an extracted, edited version. To me a piece of music, as written by the composer, is sacrosanct. And when I am considering whether or not to buy a CD from Amazon, I expect to be informed if it contains the real score/s or a deformed abridgment of them. Now I have to wonder how many other CD's offered here are indeed what they purport to be.
Description of Khachaturian: Spartacus / Khachaturian, Vienna Philharmonic
Khachaturian's popular ballet scores benefit from his vigorous leadership and the surprisingly idiomatic playing of the Vienna Philharmonic. All the favorite crowd-pleasers are here, including the Sabre Dance. This pairing of ballet suites was a demonstration disc back in LP days and the engineering is still impressive. For those not on Khachaturian's wave length (he does skate perilously close to kitschy vulgarism), the generous filler is a delight--Ansermet's dynamic account of Glazunov's ballet. Its four movements depict the four seasons in an idiom flavored by Tchaikovsky and Glazunov's teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, and the music's all the more fetching for it. Ansermet sometimes could be a bit too sedate, and his orchestra was never a world-class group, but his conducting is nothing short of vivacious here, and the orchestra, captured in vivid sound, is with him all the way. --Dan DavisGeneral CDs
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