Khachaturian - Gayne - Ballet Suite - Fistoulari - 1960 Sealed LP + Original Sticker

Khachaturian - Gayne


Label: Everest
Cat#: SDBR 3052
Format: Vinyl, LP
original Sealed
Country: US
Released: 1960
Genre: Classical
Style: Romantic


Tracklist

A1 Sabre Dance
A2 Lyrical Duet
A3 Dance Of The Rose Maidens
A4 Gopak
A5 Lullaby
A6 Lezghinka


B1 Russian Dance
B2 Gayne's Adagio
B3 Dance Of The Young Kurds
B4 Dance Of The Old Man
B5 Fire


Composed By – Khachaturian
Conductor – Anatole Fistoulari
Libretto By – Derzhavin
Orchestra – London Symphony Orchestra, The

Notes
Engravings:
Side 1: SDBR.3052-1-T3 / ARO5-917
Side 2: SDBR.3052-2-T3 / ARO10-2.9.1.7


Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) has written some of the most recognizable music this century, especially the "Sabre Dance" from Gayne (1942), which has appeared in everything from movies, cartoons, television shows, even commercials. What we miss, of course, is all the other good music in the rest of the suite, which is what we have here.

This forty-six-minute suite starts off with the "Sabre Dance" but moves immediately into a softer stateliness that calms everything down. And speaking of movies: "Gayne's Adagio" was used by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey--the spaceship all alone in space. Spooky and sad at the same time.

This is THE audiophile benchmark. Fistoulari was no slouch in the recording studio (see for example the whirlwind performance of Rachmaninov's Second Concerto with Julius Katchen) he and the LSO in white hot form laid down in stunning sound, a reference performance.

A Sabre Dance that is too fast? Well we are all entitled to our opinion. Stanley Black came near on the rival Decca label, but none can compare with this combination of polished playing, superb direction and Everest's non pareil clarity and vivid presence.