In 1937, three years after graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, the composer Aram Khachaturian joined the Union of Soviet Composers, created by Stalin five years earlier. The composer, one of the leading composers of his generation, was elected two years later to a leading position of some importance. But this did not prevent him from completing that year the Violin Concerto that would earn him an award, the Lenin Prize.
The illustrious distinction, however, will not be an obstacle for the composer to be accused, ten years later, together with Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other prominent authors, of writing music contrary to the interests of the Soviet people.
Indeed, in 1948, Khachaturian was blacklisted by Commissar Andrei Zhdanov, along with the composers already named, accused of "formalism", "modernism" and other deviations from "proletarian" conduct. Naturally, Khachaturian had no alternative but to "repent", by confessing his "mistakes" in a humble apology. However, his music remained the same, unchanged. Apparently, rather than his music, the Politburo was concerned about his participation in the Composers' Union, considered by that time a bastion of incorrect music. In any case, from then on, the composer managed to combine art and politics with remarkable skill.
A neo-romantic work
Now, if the maestro's music contained irreverence, it was far from presenting the characteristics and features of the music of his more daring colleagues, say, Shostakovich. Clear examples are the ballet Gayane, from 1942 (with its famous Sabre Dance), or the ballet Spartacus (which won a Stalin Prize! in 1959). The Violin Concerto of that laborious year, without going any further, is an openly romantic, clear, expressive work, which immediately gained popularity and has never left the world stages until today.
Violin Concerto in D minor
Like all the maestro's music, folkloric (Armenian) elements permeate the work, through exuberant rhythms and melodic fragments repeated obsessively. Structurally, it does not overstep any limits, ascribing to the traditional three-movement format in a fast-slow-fast sequence. The first is in sonata form, the second is a lyrical interlude, and the third is a brilliant concluding rondo.
The work is dedicated to the Russian maestro David Oistrach, who was the soloist for its premiere on November 16, 1940.
Movements:
00:22 Allegro con fermezza
15:33 Andante sostenuto
28:58 Allegro vivace
The rendition is by Armenian violinist Sergey Khachatryan, with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.
