Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Concerto-Rhapsody in B flat minor (1961-2) [23:11]
Sergei LYAPUNOV (1859-1924)
Violin Concerto in D minor Op.61 (1915) [22:06]
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Sonata-Monologue for solo violin (1975) [12:31]
Hideko Udagawa (violin)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Buribayev
rec. Henry Wood Hall, London, England, 28-29 October 2011
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD312 [57:49]
If ever there was a disc that Khachaturian’s detractors wanted to use
as ammunition to show him as a crude and crass composer this might just be
the one.
It pains me, and I take no pleasure at all in reporting that there is little
credit to be taken by anyone from this disc. By the time Khachaturian came
to write this extended one movement work in 1961 he’d left behind the
nationalistic colourful - one might say brash - style that made his name.
There are elements that remain but in essence this is a rather harsh, unrelenting
almost mechanistic work. For once, I cannot agree with liner writer Malcolm
MacDonald that this is a finer work than the 1940 Violin Concerto. Perhaps
in subtler more nuanced hands there might appear some musical magic to conjure
with. Here violinist Hideko Udagawa attacks the music from her opening cadenza
in an unrelenting bullish onslaught. There is almost no light and shade and
even less rhapsodising. In one sense I applaud a player who is willing to
sacrifice sheer sonic beauty in the service of the spirit of a piece. However,
too often the compromises seem a consequence of technical shortcomings rather
than musical choice. Khachaturian writes extended passages of complex double-stopping
- Udagawa unrelentingly accents the lower notes of the chords to give her
a spring-board to the upper notes. Passages in octaves are subject to suspect
intonation and too often bow control issues give long lines an unseemly bump.
In all of this she is aided by conductor Alan Buribayev who seems unwilling
or unable to persuade the RPO to play with any real light and shade - we go
from loudish to louder and almost no ebb and flow at all. It sounds as though
he simply does not know what to do with the piece. I have not seen a score
for this work but I find it impossible to believe that there is not more subtlety
written into the work than the performance given here would imply. Because
the RPO are extremely competent players the orchestral part is played perfectly
well but without that extra engagement an inspiring conductor must bring to
music that teeters on the brink of the banal at the best of times. Even the
usually excellent engineering of Mike Hatch seems to have been caught up in
the malaise afflicting these sessions - has the Henry Wood Hall ever sounded
so airless and monochrome. I cannot think of a more dispiriting twenty-three
minute slugging match of a performance that I have heard in some time.
The coupling with the Lyapunov makes sense - its another single movement work
of relative rarity. I have not heard the recent Naxos disc so have no comparison
to make. For sure it is a more lyrical work closer to the style of Glazunov
and Arensky but without the melodic memorability of either. Udagawa is prone
to the shortcomings mentioned previously to which must be added some ungainly
scoops in the more lyrical sections and some pyrotechnic arpeggiated passages
that end on notes of suspect intonation and no beauty.
The disc is rather oddly completed with a work for solo violin. This is of
interest because of its rarity and the fact that it was Khachaturian’s
penultimate work. Here MacDonald is undoubtedly right to assign it a bardic
folkloric character. This seems to chime with Ms Udagawa’s penchant
for full-frontal assaults on music and thereby this is the most convincing
performance on the disc. In the hands of those with a greater sense of fantasy
and a willingness to relax I could imagine this being of real interest. Here
it remains subject to a strangely aggressive style which I found thoroughly
lacking in appeal.
Not a disc I will return to.
Nick Barnard
Not a disc I will return to.
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