Sibelius Tjeknavorianemmanuel Tjeknavorian

The music of Johannes Brahms has long been close to Emmanuel Tjeknavorian's heart. Now, with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Cristian Măcelaru, he has recorded Brahms' Violin Concerto and Zwei Gesänge,op. 91 with Anna Lucia Richter and Andreas Haefliger. On this album he not only plays the violin, but also the viola.

Borodin’s First Symphony isn’t especially interesting, but his Second is a masterpiece, tightly constructed, brilliantly orchestrated, and tunefully delightful. It’s really the only work of its period to rank with the symphonies of Tchaikovsky (along with, possibly, Balakirev’s First), and Tjeknavorian’s performance of it, indeed of all three works, is outstanding. He doesn’t fuss with or manipulate tempos or textures, preferring instead to keep the music moving energetically and allowing the musicians of the National Philharmonic to inject as much color and vitality as possible. The scherzo flashes by like lightning, the slow movement is aptly seductive, and the finale dazzles. As I suggested, the other two works are less obviously successful, but the performances are no less adept. Produced by Charles Gerhardt, we can expect fine sonics, and that’s just what RCA delivers. In this music, you won’t find better.

Great composers of Armenia are reunited under this great CD to capture the essence their country! Great choice and great result! A must have for any people who love Armenia and is beautyful music!

Easily the finest account of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto since Moura Lympany’s pioneering recording under Fistoulari (Decca, 3/53 – nla), this new version on ASV is the one to have. Dora Serviarian-Kuhn and her Armenian compatriot, Loris Tjeknavorian are in every way first-class: both identify naturally with the sinuous oriental flavour of the melodic lines and understand – as did Lympany and, in America in 1946, William Kapell (RCA, 5/95) – that the outer movements need above all to convey thrusting vitality. (Remember that the first Moscow performance – which delighted the composer – was by the Russian virtuoso, Lev Oborin.) Here there is plenty of drive and rhythmic lift in the outer movements.

The musicians of the Tonkunstler Orchestra – and especially their concertmaster Kirill Maximov in soloist mode – want to tell you some fabulous stories. There can be few other orchestral pieces that capture the imagination as directly as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical tales from the «Thousand and One Nights». Violin concerto? Symphonic poem? Or suite? «Scheherazade», written in the summer of 1888, has a little of each, or even better: everything in one! The four movements have names like «The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship» and «Festival at Baghdad»; the musical bor- rowings come from Persia, India and the Caucasus. Emmanuel Tjeknavorian chose this work for his first ever CD production as conductor of a full symphony orchestra because he has an emo- tional connection to it. He explains why in his deeply personal message in the booklet. The young violinist, now increasingly making a name for himself as a conductor, has complemented «Scheherazade» with other showpieces of the Russian orchestral repertoire by Mikhail Glinka and Aleksandr Borodin.

The influential critic Karl Flodin commented after the première of Sibelius’ Second Symphony, 'A symphonic poem the like of Sibelius’ Second Symphony has never been heard before, it’s something rarely heard in the genre of modern symphony. The more you listen to this brilliant work, the more powerful its contours seem, the deeper its soul appears and the more striking become the clues which hint at an understanding of this composition'. Oehms Classics has found the perfect partners for this recording in Dmitrij Kitajenko and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, whom have paired it delightfully with two short pieces by Edvard Grieg.

British orchestras and their audiences have long held a special affinity for the orchestral works of Jean Sibelius, and the Hallé's venerable tradition of playing his music continues in this superb recording of the Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, the Symphony No. 7 in C major, and the symphonic poem En Saga. Mark Elder's straightforward interpretations are clear-headed and meticulous yet intensely passionate, and the orchestra responds to his direction by digging deep and playing with a commitment that is nearly perceptible. These symphonies and En Saga are representative of Sibelius' mature style, so their deliberate pacing and steady unfolding of motives into organic developments over long time spans require attentive listening, but the clarity of Elder's readings makes the progress of the music easy to follow. Add to this the exceptional reproduction, which brings out every detail with crispness, and presents the Hallé's warm and rich sonorities with credible presence, and the end result is a nearly ideal presentation of Sibelius' music.