Khachaturian's First Symphony from Palermo

A novelty here and possibly a mystery to boot. On the Aries label, famed for pirated recordings comes Khachaturian's First Symphony conducted by Ermanno Berladini with the Palermo Symphony Orchestra. Aries LP-1608 is billed as, and is, a true stereo record, probably recorded sometime during the mid to late 60's.

Ermanno Berladini was an authentic figure and the Palermo SO is an actual ensemble (now known as the Sicily SO). What we have here is a rather spirited recording of a second tier work performed by a rather decent orchestra. Whether it is Sicilian or conducted by Berladini is anyone's guess. Again, Aries was notorious for pseudonyms, as witnessed by its series of records dedicated to the orchestral works of Havergal Brian.

This record is a bit of an oddity though I enjoyed it and hope you will too.

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Fabien Sevitzky conducts suites from Khachaturian's Gayne and Masquerade

I was VERY excited to pick up this rarity from Fabien Sevitzky...and it was FREE! I'll cut to chase and tell you that no one, NO ONE, makes a stronger case for this music of Khachaturian then Sevitzky. Although Neal posted a very fine lp of extended music from Gayne with Chalabala conducting the brilliant Czech PO, Sevitzky and his midwestern band play their collective hearts out in thess Sevitzky arranged suites. It's just a terrific ride with sultry woodwinds, braying trombones and silky strings doing their thing. The 1953ish recording is full and natural. Just a great testament to what Sevitzky accomplished in Indianapolis. I love this and I would encourage listeners to go to the Big 10 Inch and check out what Buster did for the Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Sevitzky might have been Serge Koussevitzky's nephew but he was very much his own, talented man!

As a filler, the Musical Arts SO under Leonard Sorkin in a mostly Russian program. Some fine playing here in Russian Sailor's Dance and Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla. Who was this Musical Arts SO? I'd sure like to know. This recording dates from teh mid 60's and my copy was monaural.

I'd like to respond to some comments about transfers here. The recordings in this post are downloadable in FLAC. I am switching to FLAC for all new transfers. I do have a number of transfers left, in the can, that are in mp3 but, from July on, I will only convert WAV to FLAC. Also, some folks have commented on clicks and pops. I use Audacity now and I try to run transfers through a couple times to remove as much noise as possible. Unfortunately, not everything disappears and I do not like Noise Removal because I feel that it alters the original recording's sound in an unflattering way. Overall, I am fairly comfortable with what I do; it is not perfect, I am not an engineer, and what I do here does not earn me one penny. So, please try to enjoy my efforts as I work within certain constraints etc..  Thanks much!

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Khachaturian and Tchaikovsky conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos

Anything conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos is always welcome, as far as my opinion counts. A titan of a musician but more importantly a pillar of decency, generosity, and honesty, Mitropoulos' interpretations are so individual and charged, that quite simply, there is no way to peg him into a category. What one gets with Mitropoulos is a well thought out performance that usually brims with an electricity that can not be explained by mere mortal! Here, we have two works that appeal to Mitropoulos' creativity and imagination: the Khachaturian Piano Concerto and the Pathetique Symphony of Tchaikovsky.

The Khachaturian concerto features Oscar Levant as soloist. Levant is one of those pianists whose star rose quite high during his time but today, he is mostly forgotten. In this concerto, he and Mitropoulos prove strong partners and they collaborate to make this music sound more interesting then it really is. For the most part, Khachaturian was a second rate composer, prone to effect over substance, and his work can fall to the banal in the wrong hands. Fortunately, here are two musicians that believe in this work and play it for what it is worth.

Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony is, of course, a whole other matter. Consider this: the Pathetique was the greatest Russian symphony for some 60 years until, I think, Shostakovich's 10th surpassed it for power, emotion, orchestration, and overall structural integrity. In Mitropoulos's hands, this  masterpiece of Tchaikovsky's moves to another plane altogether. The emotion, the soul of Tchaikovsky, is exposed in its rawest, basest form. This is, quite simply, a totally organic experience that will tire you because it makes you completely focus on it for 40+ minutes. It just pulls you in; this is the magic of Dimitri Mitropoulos at his very finest.

The Khachaturian on this CBS Special Products disc dates from 1950 and the Odyssey issue of the Tchaikovsky was recorded in 1956.

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