Piano Concertos by Serge Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian
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PIANO CONCERTOS BY SERGE PROKOFIEV AND ARAM KHACHATURIAN Nareh Arghamanyan Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Alain Altinoglu Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) Piano Concerto in D flat (1936) 1 Allegro maestoso 15. 32 2 Andante con anima 11. 21 3 Allegro brillante 9. 50 Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953) Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 (1917-1921) 4 Andante-Allegro 10. 13 5 Tema – Andantino 9. 48 Var. 1 – Listesso tempo Var. 2 – Allegro Var. 3 – Allegro moderato (poco meno mosso) Var. 4 – Andante meditativo Var. 5 – Allegro giusto Tema – Listesso tempo 6 Allegro ma non troppo 10. 27 Total playing time 67. 17 Nareh Arghamanyan, piano Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Erez Ofer, concertmaster Alain Altinoglu, conductor This album has been recorded at the Haus des Rundfunks, RBB Berlin, Germany in October 2013. Aram Khachaturian was seen leaning against a birch tree in a corner of the park, tears pouring Concerto for Piano down his cheeks... and Orchestra in D Resurgence around the Black Sea flat major Transcaucasia (= South Caucasus), July 12, 1937 saw the official première behind the Caucasus mountains – of Aram Khachaturian’s hugely Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. powerful Piano Concerto. The concert For centuries, the various Christian, took place under the open sky in Arab and Persian cultures had Sokolniki Park in central Moscow, enjoyed a mutually beneficial co- featuring as soloist 29-year-old existence, until the collapse of the Lev Oborin, Soviet master-pianist USSR, when the region turned into a and winner of the First Chopin focal point of bloody military clashes, Competition in 1927. However, a hotbed of corruption, religious a hastily assembled orchestra wars, and separatism. clumsily stormed its way through the extremely difficult score (written in However, at the beginning of the 20th D flat major); and the force of the century nationalistic intrigues played wind blew conductor Lev Steinberg’s (as yet) only a minor role. Thus, glasses right off his nose. After the Aram Khachaturian grew up in a concert, the 34-year-old composer modestly wealthy Armenian family of English bookbinders in the Georgian capital the Russian soul of Glazunov, the – Tbilisi, without being restricted by from the perspective of the Black Sea any fear of “ethnic contacts”. Later – very western-sounding thunder of on, the composer acquired a global Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B flat reputation, thanks mostly to his minor, the dry severity of Prokofiev, ballet Gayane: the “Sabre Dance” the mellifluousness of Rachmaninov, from this work was soon heading and so on. However, no-one has all the classical charts. In 2013, a yet mentioned Shakespeare’s “A selection of Khachaturian’s works Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Act 5, was declared a UNESCO World Scene 1 – “Well roared, lion”: of the Documentary Heritage. In 1947, it was 498 bars of the first movement, most again Lev Oborin who first introduced range between f (= forte) and ffff (= Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto to the quadruple fortissimo). Two extensive Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. piano cadences – one slow and one fast – develop the musical material. They also allow the pianist to stop Well roared, lion and smell all the technical “flowers” along the way (as commented by The way Khachaturian combines the a British newspaper in 1940), which most diverse influences in his Piano Khachaturian has planted here in Concerto has been often enough abundance. emphasized: in the music, one hears Armenian folk songs, the rhythms of the trans- Caucasian male dances, “Flexed tones” metal sheet. In this recording, however, the flexatone has been When Khachaturian asked his replaced by a musical saw. Conductor colleague Prokofiev for a peer Alain Altinoglu based his choice on review of his draft for the second Khachaturian having, in fact, had in movement, the latter scoffed in his mind the much softer sound of this laconic manner: “Your pianist will be instrument, although at the première catching flies here.” Khachaturian (and subsequent concerts) the immediately amended the work, composer agreed to the use of the elaborating the solo part with tawdry flexatone in the absence of a striking chords and virtuoso scales musical-saw virtuoso. in accordance with romantic traditions. However, in the middle of the movement, a rare instrument Fast-paced, dancing, spirited makes its appearance. In most performances of the work, an edgy The third movement gets off to a sound pushes into the dreamy, yet thrilling and brilliant start. What we heavily dragging triple time: it is a might consider the sound of jazzed- flexatone, rattling its way in. The up trumpets, is in fact Armenian flexatone, a percussion instrument folk music! Inspired by the virtuoso from the idiophone family, produces playing of an Aschug ensemble a tone somewhere between a musical (= itinerant bards and mystics), saw and a bicycle bell by beating glissandi rejoice their way up to the two wooden knobs against a flexible melodic climaxes. Repeated notes, figuration, scales, tremolos, and trills but they did not react favourably. follow in quick succession. At the end, I have to face the truth: the final the now-tamed folk-music strides result of the season in America, into a hymnic coda. The motto theme which at the start held such promise from the first movement rings out in for me, was a great big zero.” The massive double octaves. The volume situation was quite different in of sound is so obvious, it does not Europe, where Prokofiev regularly need to be discussed... enjoyed great success with the work: for instance, as a guest of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Serge Prokofiev 1920s. Piano Concerto No. “Any child knows the third concerto” 3 in C major, Op. 26 The composer Dmitri Kabalevsky Sergei Prokofiev himself was the reported that he once heard someone soloist at the world première of his in a hotel room, very slowly and Piano Concerto No. 3, which took persistently practising individual place in Chicago on December 16, passages from the concerto. To his 1921. “They did not understand it too surprise, it was Prokofiev himself well in Chicago, but they reacted behind the instrument. So he asked favourably. In New York, they found him why he was studying the piece it equally difficult to understand, like a student, even though he had so often played it in the major concert The following Andantino consists of halls throughout the world. Prokofiev a theme with five free variations, replied: “Any child knows the third thus also remaining within the concerto, and so every passage has framework of the classical sequence to be absolutely perfect!” In fact, of movements. Neither does the the composer did not omit a single finale break with this structure: it is pianistic effect in the concerto: a rondo with one first theme and two sparkling running passages, secondary themes. sophisticated rhythms, and intricate sound-layering alternate with quiet, There were several sides to Prokofiev, lyrical sections, with unexpected one of which shows the composer contrasts keeping musician and with classical ambitions and not audience alike in continual suspense. as the “radical innovator,” who as an “enfant terrible” had confused The musical fireworks take place his professors with his daring against a background of classical tonal language. Prokofiev himself structures. The first movement described his work as an interaction follows the classical sonata form between four main trains of thought: with two contrasting themes the classical, the innovative, the (preceded by a lyrical introduction) motoric, and the lyrical. “This train of and a short development, in which thought remained unnoticed, or was the lyrical second theme is further recognized only in retrospect.” elaborated. The impetuous main theme dominates the recapitulation. Strict self-organization punctuality. In this atmosphere, the composer turned to sketches on “I get up at 8:30. After drinking a cup which he had been working before of hot chocolate, I check to see if the leaving Russia. One of the first to garden is still where I expect it to be. hear excerpts from the new concerto Then I sit down to work: right now, was Prokofiev’s neighbour in Brittany, I’m working on the Piano Concerto the symbolist poet Konstantin No. 3.” In those days, Prokofiev Balmont, who subsequently was leading the life of a travelling celebrated in a sonnet the pianist’s virtuoso, thus rarely having a chance “sibilant spray.” In return, Prokofiev to enjoy a regular daily routine. expressed his thanks by dedicating Therefore, his stay at the small the concerto to Balmont. Breton seaside resort of St Brevin- les-Pins was all the more relaxing for A blitheful blaze of the crimson him. He had secluded himself there flower, during the summer of 1921, together The instrument of the words plays with his mother and his friend, the tiny flames, poet Boris Bashkirov (pseudonym Then suddenly extends the tongues Verin). Prokofiev systematically of fire, programmed his meals, piano From molten ore a stream has exercises, walks, and daily chess emerged. game, which corresponded precisely Moments dance waltzes. Centuries with his temperament – he was lead the gavotte. almost manic in his pursuit of Prokofiev: music and youth in glorious bloom, Sibilant spray of a swirling spate. You satisfy the Craving for sound and tone: as if it were a tambourine, You beat the sun – powerful, invincible Scythian. KONSTANTIN BALMONT Photography by Kai Bienert Nareh Arghamanyan include her debuts with the Radio- Symphonieorchester Vienna, the Highly acclaimed for her unique Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, style, colourful tone and dazzling Munich Symphonic, Copenhagen virtuosity, Nareh Arghamanyan is one Philharmonic and others. of the most promising talents of her generation. Nareh Arghamanyan is a regular guest at international festivals She has debuted with orchestras such such as the Schleswig-Holstein, as the Vienna Symphony, the City of Lanaudière, Lucerne, Marlboro, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Singapore Music Festivals.