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KHACHATURIAN: Symphonic Highlights From Gayane, Spartacus,
and Masquerade
Aram Khachaturian was born in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, in 1903, and
died in Moscow in 1978. He came to the study of music quite late, only
graduating from the Moscow Conservatoire in 1934. His music combines a
romantic lyricism with exciting dance rhythms and colorful orchestration,
and quickly established a worldwide reputation with his Piano Concerto and
Violin Concerto. Like Shostakovich, he composed a great deal of film music,
but his most popular works are undoubtedly the ballet scores, selections from
which are included on this recording.
Yuri Simonov was born in Saratov. He studied at the Leningrad
Conservatoire with Rabinovich, and assisted Mravinksy at the Leningrad
Conservatoire conducting The Mermaid by Dargomizhsky. Following first
prize in the Saint Cecilia Conductors Competition in Rome in 1968, he
was invited to make his debut at the Bolshoi Opera (Aïda) in 1969 and was
almost immediately appointed Chief Conductor: the youngest in history,
and, with his appointment ending only in 1985, also the longest-serving. In
recent years, Simonov has appeared with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
and the Warsaw National Philharmonic.