Aram Khachaturian

[Arpa]

Today June 6, 2003 AK would have been 100 years old.

Read, listen and swell like a peacock.

While at it visit the other sites as well to read listen and see more.

 

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/...re_1287262.html

 

[Arpa]

I will never forgetthat day on June 6, 1993 when the entire world was celebrating his 90th, the local radio announcer described him as the ARMENIAN composer, not Russian, not Soviet, not any other qua lifying adjective but just plain ARMENIAN. Only then I was convinced that we are a ntion once again, that we have a HOME where all our long lost sons and daughters can once again gather under that TSIRANI GOTI.

Do you realize that at this very moment, and at any moment of the day the SUSERAMART/b] is being played somewhere, from Tasmania to Tarzana, from Helsinki to Hyederapat, be it a Bugs Bunny show or a commercial selling floor mops. If we only had royalty rights on that piece it would be worth all the GOLD of the world be TSIRANI/VOSKI or BLACK, the kind that Baku is supposedly sitting on.

BTW, during that period I also saw Perlman in person play AK's Violin Concerto.

We must see that Gayaneh is brought to the famous stages of the world, only then the world will realize where that catchy tune is from. Incidentally I also saw the ballet Spartacus played in NY. I think I was the only Armenian at that performance.

If we only knew which chord to strike!!!

The G chord is very bitter.!!!

 

His bio;

 

http://www.4music.net/khachaturian.html

 

[gamavor]

I have Sabre Dance in my car, performed by British Royal philharmonic orchestra and I'm listening to it every time I'm pissed off.

[nairi]

Shnorhavor Aram jan!!! May your soul be resting in peace!

 

Actually Sabre Dance is one of my least favorites. I love his piano concertos though.

[Arpa]

Shnorhavor Aram jan!!! May your soul be resting in peace!

 

Actually Sabre Dance is one of my least favorites. I love his piano concertos though.

It may be described as bittter-sweet thgat the best known of his works is the Sabre Dance, often we forget that he has also produced world famous sympnies and concertos among others. His Cello Concerto is world famous just as his Vilon and Piano ones, also not to forget his Sumphny (no.2). I have all of those in addition to a very old copied a miliion time< Aboy time new ones are made) video of Spartacus.

I did mention that I saw Perlman in person play his Viloin Concerto, I don't ether I should mention the fact that I have seen Aram in person conduct his works. I will not say where and when, even thpough it is obvious that it had to be before his demise.

 

Yes, Nairi. Shonorhavor taredarts indeed!!!

 

Is not tsnund better than mah ev kotorats!!!

[Arpa]

Today is not only Aram's birthday it is also OURS.

 

Turks, could not do the job with the "Sabre", now they can sit on his cello with the large part first!!!

[Azat]

Thank you Arpa for bringing it to our attention. While I too like Gayaneh and the saber dance from Gayaneh, it is his Violin concertos (trio) and most definitely Spartacus that show his power. How he was able to take an international subject like Spartacus and melt it with Armenian melodies is incredible.

 

I think that Armenian community has to make sure that the world knows him as an Armenian and not Russian. He is still known as Russian to most people in the world.

[Arpa]

Why would Aram choose such an obscure character as Spartacus(?) (Hollywood immortalized him as well) as one of his heroes?

This may be a little sensitive, touchy.

Spartacus was adopted by the Soviets as a symbol of revolution and as the symbol of the victory of the oppressed over the oppressor, of the victim over the victimizer. See below.

 

Does anyone know why Hamlet and Macbeth were popular personal names in Hayastan at one time?

 

Spartacus.

http://departments.vassar.edu/~jolott/repu...us/summary.html

[MosJan]

NAx - Arpa jan shnorhakal em Topiki hamar !!!

 

 

 

im aroryaum bavakanin shat em shpvum otarazgi yerajishtneri het - yerb portsum em nerkayatsnel Azg@ mer HAyots - mihst el Aram Khachaturyan@ arajinerits mekn e vorri anun@ nshum em - I zarman@s indz shater@ giten - voroshn el minchev Suserov pari yerashtutyun@ chem sullum chen hishum - sakayn hishum en / de tor hishvi / tor haverji / menk menq chmornananq yev iren Arjani dzvevov / parqov patvov n@shenq te taredarts@ Aram PApikim

 

Kenats@t Aram PApi

[Azat]

Today June 6, 2003 AK would have been 100 years old.

Read, listen and swell like a peacock.

While at it visit the other sites as well to read listen and see more.

 

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/...re_1287262.html

 

Arpa jan, I just had a chance to listen to the NPR segment on Khachaturian. Very nice. Suprisingly long(7+ minutes). I liked it alot.

 

Thanks for the link.

[vava]

Today June 6, 2003 AK would have been 100 years old.

Read, listen and swell like a peacock.

While at it visit the other sites as well to read listen and see more.

 

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/...re_1287262.html

 

 

   

Arpa jan, I just had a chance to listen to the NPR segment on Khachaturian. Very nice. Suprisingly long(7+ minutes). I liked it alot.

 

Thanks for the link.

I very much enjoyed it too!

His music is very close to my heart. Everytime I hear one particular melodic segment of Gayaneh, i always remember my mother humming as she prepared our dinner. It's melancholy, yet it has a surprisingly inspirational quality.

 

I was hoping to hear something on CBC radio - but no such luck (at least for me...)

[Arpa]

 

 

2003 Aram Khachaturian Festival to Present Spartacus Ballet in NYC and LA in September

 

WASHINGTON, DC – As reported previous, the year 2003 has been declared the year of Aram Khachaturian by UNESCO, an honor that only outstanding personalities with remarkable contributions to the world's culture and arts have earned. Aram Khachaturian made a unique and historical contribution to world music. This contribution is important and complex. He foreshadowed a rapid rise of Armenian national music and its transformation to a new professional level, and it is largely due to him and his talented creations that Armenian music is known as an original part of the universal world of music. The 100th anniversary of the great composer’s birth, which occurred on June 6, 1903, is a "milestone" celebration in our lifetime and it should be applauded and encouraged by all Armenians -- the general public, as well as cultural and political organizations. The Centennial of Aram Khachaturian will be celebrated in New York City and Los Angeles, with performances of the composer's masterpiece ballet Spartacus by the renowned Grigorovich Ballet Company of the Russian Federation, according to an announcement from the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia.

======

Note: Locations and dates.

Sept. 15, 2003 NY State Theater, Linoln Center

Sept. 19 and 20, 2003 Pasadena Civic Auditorium

[Azat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/arts/mus...3794879&ei=5062

 

What Could Khachaturian Do Besides an Encore?

By MAYA PRITSKER

 

Published: October 5, 2003

 

HE vulgarity and staleness of much of Khachaturian's music . . . is without parallel in the works of any other internationally known composer today," an English critic wrote in 1954. Other Western critics in the 1950's and 60's were scarcely less harsh.

 

These were, of course, the years when the cold war was at its height, and Shostakovich was considered an opportunist and a Stalinist. These were also the prime years of the postwar avant-garde, when creating something like Khachaturian's wildly popular "Saber Dance" amounted to a crime against high art. Writing beautiful melodies in a traditional idiom was reproachable, and in Khachaturian's case, it seemed to be a special mark of conformity to a "Soviet style."

 

Now, in the Khachaturian centennial year, the situation is different. The pendulum of serious music has swung to the other extreme. The realities of Soviet life and politics are better known, and the personal histories of artists are understood as having been more complex. The time may be ripe to take another look at Khachaturian's music.

 

New Yorkers can do so on Friday, when Constantine Orbelian and the Philharmonia of Russia present a Khachaturian program at Carnegie Hall. Listeners elsewhere can hear some of the same music by the same performers on a new CD from Delos.

 

Khachaturian's leap from musical illiteracy to international prominence, made possible by a huge talent, was aided by an artistically gifted family, a beneficial environment, excellent teachers and, above all, perfect timing. He was a true son of his era, a man who came into maturity when the great utopia of Soviet society, energetic and optimistic, was beginning to take shape. He sincerely believed in its ideals and illusions, and he had reasons to do so.

 

Khachaturian was born into an Armenian family of peasant origins in the Georgian capital, Tiflis (now Tbilisi). A colorful and vivacious multicultural center of the Caucasus region, Tiflis was a place where, it must have seemed, you could become a musician just by breathing the air. Khachaturian heard Armenian and Azerbaijani songs sung by his parents; Georgian, Turkish, Iranian, Russian and other European melodies played on the streets and in parks; and sacred chants from churches and mosques.

 

He learned to play horn and piano by ear, and he loved to improvise. He attended his first opera at 16, his first symphony concert a few years later. Encouraged by his oldest brother, Suren, a noted theater figure, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921. But he did not begin a formal study of music until he was 20.

 

Through Suren, who worked at the Moscow Art Theater, Khachaturian met the elite of Moscow's artistic circles and became involved with the newly established Armenian Theater Studio. The studio was one of many offspring of a new ethnic policy. The Soviet state saw itself as a "family of nations," with the small ones protected and educated by the great Russia in a kind of affirmative action. Top professionals went to the eastern Soviet republics, and national cadres were nurtured both regionally and in major Russian cities. The Armenians, who had been decimated by the Turkish massacres, stood to gain in stature from this policy.

 

So it is small wonder that when an exceptionally gifted Armenian with a distinctive musical personality deeply rooted in the folk traditions of his region chose the path of a music professional, he was readily admitted to the Moscow Conservatory and soon became its star. Khachaturian eagerly absorbed the composition lessons of Mikhail Gnessin and Nikolai Miaskovsky, students of Rimsky-Korsakov and thus heirs to the St. Petersburg School, which had a long tradition of creating "Russian music of the East." Under their guidance, he produced his own blend of East and West, first in charming chamber pieces, then in big orchestral works. The blend was fresh and natural.

 

At 31, after five years at the conservatory, he completed his graduation piece, his First Symphony, which drew the attention of prominent conductors and was soon performed by the best Soviet orchestras. His next big work, the Piano Concerto, of 1936, established his name abroad. The Violin Concerto, first performed by the already famous David Oistrakh in 1940, got Khachaturian his first Stalin Prize, then the highest artistic award in the Soviet Union, and it soon joined the Piano Concerto in the international repertory.

 

By the age of 40, Khachaturian had also written the popular ballet "Gayane" (the source of the "Saber Dance"), a number of chamber pieces and patriotic songs, and two dozen scores of incidental and film music, including his best known, for the Lermontov drama "Masquerade." Newspapers mentioned his name alongside those of Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Miaskovsky.

 

Khachaturian was not the first ethnic professional composer from the East, but he was the first educated in Soviet times, and his music had all the energy, optimism and accessibility necessary to epitomize the new Soviet art. Those qualities never seemed "learned" or forced; like a great street musician, Khachaturian sounded spontaneous and sincere, emotionally open and engaging. Naturally, he immediately became an example for young national composers and a hero in Armenia, showered with honors and privileges. If he knew anything about the dark side of life under Stalin, he accepted it. He willingly wore blinders.

 

That is why his denouncement (alongside those of other leaders of Soviet music) as a formalist composer and enemy of the people by the central committee of the Communist Party in 1948 came as a huge shock. It took him a long time to recover. And although the government denounced the denouncement in 1958, Khachaturian produced few works in the 30 years before his death in 1978. Only one of them, the ballet "Spartacus," was internationally acclaimed.

 

There were public responsibilities, teaching and conducting obligations, trips abroad and hospital stays. Was he tired, or did he lose any creative urge, feeling out of place in a new musical era? He never discouraged his students at the Gnessin Academy and the Moscow Conservatory from taking new and risky paths, but he did not take them himself.

 

Should we blame Khachaturian for not having been more adventurous in his work or for not having suffered enough under Soviet rule? Or should we simply listen to his music, admire its emotional power and textural richness and enjoy the rhythmic diversity and the melodic beauty?

 

One may regret a certain predictability in Khachaturian's structures yet be surprised by delicious details: an elegant imitation of Eastern instruments, a hint of jazz, a shadow of sadness amid sunny landscapes, brought by dissonant chords or unexpected turns of melody. Is it shameful to be swept away by the perpetual feast and improvisational freedom of his Violin Concerto, to melt into the sensuality and passion of "Spartacus" or to be moved to tears by the Waltz from "Masquerade"?

 

Prokofiev, after hearing "Gayane," suggested that Khachaturian look for new means to handle Armenian material, different from those of Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. To do so would not have been easy for a composer who came of age in the Soviet Union of the 1930's. What's more, few people in those Eurocentric times thought that Eastern cultures should avoid Western influences. Khachaturian's way seemed the proper one to transform the oral improvisational tradition of the East into a universal idiom.

 

"No matter how I may waver between various musical languages, I remain an Armenian, but a European Armenian, not an Asian Armenian," he wrote. "Together with others, we will make all of Europe and the whole world listen to our music. And when they hear our music, people are certain to say, `Tell us about that people, and show us the country that produces such art.' "

 

 

Maya Pritsker is the cultural editor of Novoye Russkoye Slovo, a Russian-language newspaper.

[MJ]

I was walking near a music-score store on the West 56th street in NY, right across the Carnegie Hall, tonight. On the stand I saw a large picture of Khachatryan and several of his scores. There was also a quotation from him, which approximately sounded like this: “No matter how I waver, I always find myself being Armenian, a European Armenian – not an Asian Armenian,….” Didn’t memorize the rest.

 

Perhaps this quote may add something to the recent pathetic discussions of Hye Forum.

Edited October 9, 2003 by MJ

[MJ]

I just figured that my last post may be misinterpreted due to the ambiguity of my comment. I didn't mean to say that what Khachatryan has said was pathetic. Quite the opposite.

[Teutonic Knight]

I was walking near a music-score store on the West 56th street in NY, right across the Carnegie Hall, tonight. On the stand I saw a large picture of Khachatryan and several of his scores. There was also a quotation from him, which approximately sounded like this: “No matter how I waver, I always find myself being Armenian, a European Armenian – not an Asian Armenian,….” Didn’t memorize the rest.

 

Perhaps this quote may add something to the recent pathetic discussions of Hye Forum.

BRAVO!!!!!!!

[Armen]

Aram Khachaturyan

 

Newly launched web-site.

 

Could anybody tell me if this sounds correct in English:

 

"Aram Khachaturian is a great Armenian composer, an outstanding representative of 20th century’s music, one of the most original contemporary composers. His works are part of the world music’s “gold portfolio”.

In connection with the composer’s 100th anniversary, UNESCO announced 2003 the Year of Khachaturian".

 

That's the opening text of the web-site and it's too ... Silvakaputikyanish.

[Armen]

If anybody could help me with the above I would highly appreciate.

[nairi]

Armen jan, I'm not sure what you want us to do. Is it only language-wise that you need help or also content-wise? If it's content, what would you like to see changed?

 

As for language, I only found two minor mistakes. The rest is grammatically correct as far as I'm concerned:

 

"Aram Khachaturian is a great Armenian composer, an outstanding representative of 20th century music, one of the most original contemporary composers. His works are part of the world music’s “gold portfolio”.

In connection with the composer’s 100th anniversary, UNESCO announced 2003 the Year of Khachaturian".

[Armen]

Nairi jan,

 

The text is obviously a directly translation from Armenian and sounds very conventional. "Great Armenian", "outstanding representative", "in connection with" represent an ambition and provincialism, when Khachaturian is already taken as granted everywhere in the world.

 

--------------------------------------

"The Independent

October 13, 2003

 

Tonight, at the Royal Festival Hall, the centenary of the birth of

Aram Khachaturian, the Armenian composer we all know thanks to the

"Sabre Dance", and the "Onedin Line" theme from his ballet Spartacus,

will be celebrated. He was a true pioneer: the first Armenian to

compose a concerto, a symphony, and a ballet; like Edvard Grieg,

he single-handedly created his own national style within a Western

European framework. The guest soloist for the concert, the violinist

Levon Chilingirian, insists that Khachaturian was "the right man at

the right time, for both the Soviet Union and Armenia. He imposed

Western harmony on Armenian melodies, but didn't tame their spirit.

His music is quintessentially Armenian." Khachaturian may have been

born in Georgia, and spent much of his life in Moscow, but his spirit

fills the pretty house where he composed in Yerevan, the capital of

Armenia, and which is now his museum. Early photos show a determined

little boy, with his bookbinder father and his first musical mentors;

there are his scores written out in a notably clear, assured hand, and

there is his piano, a big, black Bluthner with a warm, singing tone...."

 

New York Times

Oct 14 2003

 

The Armenian composer -- born 100 years ago and dead for 25 -- was

accessibility incarnate, and yet sensibilities high as well as low

respond to the folkloric gestures, the heart-on-sleeve sentiment,

the bright colors and big sounds of his music...."

--------------------------------------

 

The international media metioned Khachaturian more than a 100 times this year and I'm sure there will be a lot of internet search on him. If we could change the content a little bit I would e-mail it to them. Anyway, I'm going to think about this tommorow.

 

Thanks,

A.

[nairi]

Armen jan, I don't like the text very much either, but I'm not sure how I would change it. I like your suggestion though: to get together and come up with a less "SylvaKaputikianish" text. But even if we do, will they accept our proposal on that site? I guess as long as we don't try, we'll never know...

[Azat]

Film Review: Khachaturian

Mon Oct 20,10:18 PM ET

 

By Sheri Linden

 

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - One of the many insightful observers in the documentary "Khachaturian" notes that every Soviet citizen led a double life, moving between duty-bound nationalism and private outrage.

 

 

 

Composer Aram Khachaturian is a prime example of that balancing act: Emotionally battered by the fickleness of the Stalinist machine, he flourished creatively. To construct this portrait of a leading light of modern Russian culture, filmmaker Peter Rosen, a vet of classical-music videos, makes good use of a wealth of archival material. Opening Nov. 7 in Los Angeles through 7th Art Releasing, "Khachaturian" is a must for music and history buffs and could find a wider art house audience.

 

 

At one moment a favorite of Stalin's, at the next condemned for the sin of formalism, Georgian-born Khachaturian (1903-78) was, along with his friends Prokofiev and Shostakovich, among the most revered and denigrated composers of the Soviet era. The documentary opens with footage from his funeral, narrated in the sardonic voice of the deceased (Eric Bogosian). Initially off-putting, this first-person narration, which scripters Bill Van Horn and Solomon Volkov based on the artist's letters and speeches, gradually finds a poetic groove.

 

 

But the story is best told by the talking heads Rosen filmed in Russia and Armenia, especially the musicians, composers and dancers who were Khachaturian's contemporaries. Among them is Tikhon Khrennikov, the man who dutifully, if brokenheartedly, followed Party instructions to denounce his friend as a maker of "anti-people" art. (Now 90, the composer is still well-connected in Kremlin circles.) Khachaturian was devastated but persevered. Eventually rescued from official disfavor, he was a privileged citizen who traveled extensively. Much to the benefit of the filmmakers, cameras followed him everywhere, and pristine negatives survive in Moscow archives.

 

 

In crafting his stirring melodies, Khachaturian drew upon his Armenian heritage -- specifically, its folk songs -- and found inspiration in American jazz. "Sabre Dance" may have become a kitsch staple of plate-spinning and magic acts, but the docu succeeds in conveyeing the power and beauty of his compositions. Rosen lets the music speak for itself in several extended vintage clips -- notably an impassioned performance of the Cello Rhapsody and an eloquent pas de deux from the ballet "Spartacus." Clearer identification of dates and venues of the performances would be helpful, but that's the only glaring deficiency in this absorbing exploration of the resilience of the artistic spirit.

 

 

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[ED]

Konstantin Orbelian Advanced For Five Grammy Awards

 

Yerevan, October 31: The CD Album of Aram Khachaturian's compositions dedicated to the great Armenian composer's centennial has been advanced for Grammy: Best Music Album, Best Orchestral Rendering, Best Sound Producer.

The Album consists of the Khachaturian's compositions rendered by the Russian State Chamber Orchestra, creative director and chief conductor Konstantin Orbelian. Another two CDs, creative director Konstantin Orbelian, will be presented for Grammy: "The stars of Chamber Orchestra of Moscow" and "Where are you, brothers?"

 

The winners will be announced in February 2004.

 

http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/home/index.html

Edited November 4, 2003 by Edward

[Arpa]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Yes, indeed, Happy Birthday dear Aram.

He has made us happy all these years.

Tomorrow 6/6/08 will be his 105th birthday (6//6/1903).

There are many programs in the offing.

Let us begin the celebration! That is, if I can wipe out my tears and clear the fog off my glasses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUFWaauGPCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmVkSEhVcuo...feature=related

Idon't know who thes clowns are, nevertheless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ9fLlPuljE...feature=related

Edited June 5, 2008 by Arpa

[Zartonk]