Violin Concerto | |
---|---|
by Aram Khachaturian | |
Key | D minor |
Composed | 1940 |
Performed | 16 November 1940 |
Movements | 3 |
Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor is a violin concerto in three movements composed in 1940. It was composed for David Oistrakh and was premiered on 16 November 1940 by Oistrakh.[1]
Composition
In 1940, Khachaturian was enjoying tremendous professional success and personal joy.[2] He worked on the concerto in the tranquility of a wood composer's retreat west of Moscow; he said of the composition that he "worked without effort ... Themes came to me in such abundance that I had a hard time putting them in order."[3] Many sections of the concerto are reminiscent of the folk music of Khachaturian's native Armenia—while he never directly quotes a specific folk melody, "the exotic Oriental flavor of Armenian scales and melodies and the captivating rhythmic diversity of dances" are throughout the work.[2] The work has been charactered by "an exhilarating rhythmic drive and vitality, and a penchant for intoxicating, highly flavored, languorous melody owing much to the inflections of his native Armenian folk music."[4] Having won the Stalin prize in 1941, it has since become one of Khachaturian's famous pieces, in spite of considerable criticism.[5]
Structure
Violin concerto in D minor (1940)
- First movement: Allegro con fermezza (about 14 minutes)
- Second movement: Andante sostenuto (about 12 minutes)
- Third movement: Allegro vivace (about 9 minutes)
A movement in sonata form, the Allegro con fermezza opens with a melody that has been described as "energetic"[3] a "rollicking dance-like theme,"[4] and this yields to a "more lyrical"[4] secondary melody.
The Andante sostenuto has been described as "a rhapsodic slow movement that sweeps one into a brooding wintry landscape."[4] Geoffrey Norris wrote, "The ease and spontaneity, pungency and flexibility of Khachaturian's melodic inventions are most clearly laid out in the Andante sostenuto of the central movement, cast in a free-flowing, quasi-improvisatory manner redolent of the art of Armenian folk music."[3] The second movement is a free-flowing rondo.[6]
The concluding Allegro vivace has been called "a whirlwind of motion and virtuosity."[4] In this movement, "the folks element is specially pronounced in the dance-like vigor of the main melody and in the repetitive, insistent, wild virtuosity of the solo instrument."[3]
Discography
References
- ↑ http://www.khachaturian.am/eng/konzert.htm
- 1 2 "BeavertonSymphony.org :: program notes Khachaturian Violin Concerto". beavertonsymphony.org.
- 1 2 3 4 Khachaturian, Violin Concerto, EMI CDC 7 47087 2, CD liner notes by Geoffrey Norris
- 1 2 3 4 5 "KHACHATURIAN violin concerto, Concerto-Rhapsody Naxos 8.555919 [RB][KS]: Classical CD Reviews- May 2004 MusicWeb(UK)". www.musicweb-international.com.
- ↑ "Aram Khachaturian Violin Concerto + Dimitri Shostakovich String Quartets". 17 October 2014.
- ↑ "Error | Kennedy Center".