Khachaturian: Spartacus / Khachaturian, Vienna Philharmonic

Khachaturian's popular ballet scores benefit from his vigorous leadership and the surprisingly idiomatic playing of the Vienna Philharmonic. All the favorite crowd-pleasers are here, including the Sabre Dance. This pairing of ballet suites was a demonstration disc back in LP days and the engineering is still impressive. For those not on Khachaturian's wave length (he does skate perilously close to kitschy vulgarism), the generous filler is a delight--Ansermet's dynamic account of Glazunov's ballet. Its four movements depict the four seasons in an idiom flavored by Tchaikovsky and Glazunov's teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, and the music's all the more fetching for it. Ansermet sometimes could be a bit too sedate, and his orchestra was never a world-class group, but his conducting is nothing short of vivacious here, and the orchestra, captured in vivid sound, is with him all the way. --Dan Davis Amazon.com

Spartacus adagio is perfect..

I got this CD for the Adagio from the ballet "Spartacus", which is sublime. It was the basis for the love theme from "Mayerling"-(1968) with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve, and also used in "The Hudsucker Proxy". I ripped it into my computer so I can listen to it while I work. Some parts of it suggest the final pas de deux of Albrecht and Giselle in the ballet "Giselle." Very lush and romantic. July 22, 2008

Aram Khachaturian CD-Vienna Philharmonic

Excellent CD and everything that I expected when I purchased 2 copies. One was for my son who also enjoys this music. Great CD for quiet listening and reflection. March 23, 2008

Spartacus/Khachaturian

Portions of this work were used in the BBC Oneden Line in the 1980s. The title had me baffled for years until I checked the reviews. I was surprised and extremely pleased to have the entire version. January 10, 2007

Poor digitalization

How nostalgic to can hear 33 1/3 rpm vinyl scratches between the selections! Also, I hear some gurgling that sounds as if a cassette tape is running through dirty heads. This is the only digitally transferred CD on which I've ever heard either of these annoyances. January 5, 2007

flamboyant readings of Khachaturian!

This CD is really a treasure! Khachaturian's brilliant ballet scores played amazing by Wiener Philharmoniker, under the baton of the composer!

It is a little surprising that, Wiener Philharmoniker plays generally Austro-German musics, from Haydn to Mahler and Alban Berg. But they are very good in these virtuosic orchestral scores. For example, Sabre Dance is whirling, excellent! I like especially the dances "Lezghinka" which a very fast dance of Caucasian-Musluman people and the "Gopak" which starts slow and gradually go faster and faster and finishes in a hysteric tempo! There is a beautiful slow movement, "Adagio" which you can remember form the film 2001: A Space Odyseyy.

At this price and at this sound quality, you can not go wrong with this legendary recording of 1962 by Khachaturian.

Highly recommended. October 31, 2005

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