<\/p>
It’s one of the 20th century’s most distinctive works: thrilling, evocative, at times bombastic, and also featuring one very unusual instrument. Read on for our guide to the Khachaturian Piano Concerto and some of its best recordings.<\/p>
Born in Tblisi in 1903, the future composer Aram Khachaturian<\/a><\/strong> moved in his late teens to Moscow, where he studied with, among others, composer Nikolai Myaskovsky<\/a><\/strong>. Early works such his Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1932) and First Symphony (1934) earned the admiration of the likes of Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong> and Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong> before his Piano Concerto really propelled him into the limelight. With one brief blip in 1948, he managed to stay on the right side of the Soviet authorities as he pursued a composing career that included various film scores plus the flamboyant ballets Gayane<\/em> and Spartacus<\/em>. He died in 1978.<\/p> Bold, brash and bombastic \u2013 as well as beguilingly beautiful \u2013 Khachaturian\u2019s Piano Concerto is a showstopper. Like much of the composer\u2019s music, it draws on a colourful timbral palette \u2013 notably the flexatone or, more commonly, a musical saw, which appears in the middle movement (more on that later).<\/p> Its melodic and stylistic freedom is evocative of Gershwin<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, with dramatic keyboard ascents and descents and a rumbling bass. The whirring motifs frequently take inspiration from eastern folk music: although he was born in what is now Tbilisi, Georgia, Khachaturian identified closely with his Armenian heritage \u2013 driving rhythms and spiralling cadenzas fill his Piano Concerto.<\/p> The opening Allegro<\/a><\/strong> maestoso<\/em> begins with a bang \u2013 literally. Timpani leads the orchestra on a stomping hill-walk to the piano entry, which mimics and expands the theme, throwing it back to the ensemble. You\u2019ll know by this point whether this piece is for you or not: melodic development, though enjoyable, is not particularly imaginative. <\/p> The extended cadenza<\/a><\/strong> concludes with a jolly orchestral flourish; the twirling theme reappears and the piano duets with woodwind. A flute solo underlines the eastern harmonic influence; an idea that recurs in the following Andante<\/a><\/strong> con anima<\/em>, with its folksy, mysterious melodies.<\/p> This movement is famous \u2013 or notorious \u2013 for its use of a flexatone, a percussion instrument that features a small metal plate that is hit by beaters, creating an otherworldly tremolo sound. It produces a similar effect to the older, more established, musical saw, which is often used in lieu of the flexatone. The unusual timbre enhances the distinctive harmonies and gives the music a strange, unsettling overtone \u2013 albeit briefly (the percussion part comprises two minutes in the half-hour work).<\/p> The final Allegro brillante<\/em> follows a Lisztian<\/a><\/strong> tradition for piano pyrotechnics: virtuosic passages pour across the keyboard, pausing to refuel in the lower octaves, before gathering pace for the final rush alongside the orchestra. After a quick revisit of the original theme \u2013 we\u2019ve never lost sight of it on the horizon \u2013 there\u2019s a big, brassy finale. The smell of gunpowder lingers in the air.<\/p> Given the characterful, charismatic nature of much of the music, this concerto requires projection from both pianist and piano \u2013 something that was lacking during its premiere in 1937. Lev Oborin, the work\u2019s dedicatee, performed it with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Lev Steinberg. However, the only piano available was an upright (not unusual for the time). <\/p> Playing in the open-air venue Sokolniki Park made conditions even more unfavourable. At one point, a gust of wind took hold of Steinberg\u2019s glasses and he had to conduct from memory. Khachaturian didn\u2019t seem too worried \u2013 he later expressed delight at Oborin\u2019s performance.<\/p> The British premiere was more successful. Though it was originally offered to Clifford Curzon, it was Moura Lympany \u2013 a versatile pianist who would secure her place in history playing in Myra Hess\u2019s National Gallery lunchtime recitals during the Second World War \u2013 who gave the first performance in 1940. She then took it to the BBC Proms<\/a><\/strong> in 1942, and again in \u201944 and \u201949. <\/p> In 1950 it was taken on by another pianist, the Australian Noel Mewton-Wood (whose life was cut short by suicide at the age of 31 three years later \u2013 Britten<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Canticle III: Still falls the rain<\/em> was composed for a concert in his memory). And then it disappeared from the Proms \u2013 it hasn\u2019t featured there since \u2013 and, by and large, from programmes further afield too. Although not short of recording representation, when compared with Soviet compatriots Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Khachaturian is far less ubiquitous.<\/p> What once appeared frothy and fun \u2013 coveted qualities during World War II \u2013 seems now to appear frivolous. Reviewing a 2014 concert at Royal Festival Hall, in which the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) and Osmo V\u00e4nsk\u00e4 performed Khachaturian\u2019s Piano Concerto with the intrepid Marc-Andr\u00e9 Hamelin, The Guardian<\/em>\u2019s reviewer wrote that even the soloist\u2019s brilliance \u2018couldn\u2019t disguise the concerto\u2019s emptiness; the piece is memorable for including a musical saw in the slow movement, not for Khachaturian\u2019s music\u2019. <\/p> The saw seems to be a sticking point \u2013 there\u2019s no denying the sound and instrument\u2019s appearance is engaging, or even amusing. The original flexatone is more subtle and, while Khachaturian is taken less seriously for its inclusion, there were several notable forebears \u2013 Shostakovich\u2019s 1929 opera The Nose<\/em>, for instance, features a flexatone, as does Erwin Schulhoff\u2019s 1925 Symphony No. 1 \u2013 and several would also follow.<\/p> Xiayin Wang (piano)<\/strong> Hamelin and the LPO\u2019s 2014 Southbank performance went out on BBC Radio 3 and, while not currently available as an official recording, curious listeners can easily find it online. (Perhaps an enterprising producer could add it to the Hyperion Records catalogue, as the work appears to be missing from the label\u2019s otherwise extensive piano concerto collection.) <\/p> Hamelin\u2019s energy, flair and technical precision is hard to match, which makes Xiayin Wang\u2019s recording for Chandos all the more significant \u2013 the American-Chinese pianist\u2019s 2016 version with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is never less than thrilling. <\/p> Conductor Peter Oundjian sets a restrained pace, allowing the swell of sound to develop at a moderate speed, and leaving space for the music to breathe. Wang\u2019s detailed phrases are impeccably mic\u2019d: every single note of each glissando<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is detectable, and the cadenzas \u2013 particularly the all-important long one in the first movement and the riotous solos in the Allegro brillante<\/em> \u2013 are clear as a bell.<\/p> Crucially, the RSNO is enlarged by a flexatone rather than a musical saw in the Andante con anima<\/em> (player uncredited, unfortunately). As the plaintive, pared-back piano melody unfolds across the upper register, closing back into a simple scalic passage, the unmistakable eerie wobble begins. <\/p> Unlike other versions, the flexatone is better integrated into the orchestral paintbox, rather than a fluorescent yellow messily daubed across the top. Its entry is less jarring than the musical saw, and Oundjian, Chandos and the flexatonist do not forefront the part \u2013 if anything, the strings somewhat overpowered it.<\/p> The piano remains the star of the concerto, although a gorgeously resonant bass clarinet also gets its moment in the sun. Careful balance prevails through the Allegro brillante<\/em>, with its pick \u2018n\u2019 mix piano passages, rhythmic chords and, later, brass explosions. <\/p>What is Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto like?<\/h2>
What unusual instrument features in Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto? <\/h2>
When was the first performance of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto?<\/h2>
‘What was deemed frothy and fun has been recast as frivolous’<\/h3>
Khachaturian Piano Concerto best recordings <\/h2>
Best recording<\/h3>
‘The piano remains the star of the concerto’<\/h4>