Aram Khachaturian
Masquerade Suite
Waltz
Nocturne
Mazurka
Romance
Galop
Aram Khachaturian’s displaced Armenian parents immersed him in the folk music of their homeland, and it profoundly influenced Khachaturian's music in much the same way that American jazz suffuses the works of George Gershwin. Though Khachaturian never lived in Armenia, his cultural identity was so strong that he was honored posthumously with his image on Armenian currency.
With a penchant for descriptive music, Khachaturian composed scores to over three dozen plays and films. He wrote the incidental music to Masquerade for a 1941 centenary production of the play by Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), and culled the five-movement concert suite in 1944. Though little-known in the West, Lermontov is regarded among the giants of Russian literature, and is considered the poet-heir to Pushkin. When he was 21, Lermontov prepared three versions of Masquerade, hoping with each to appease the censor's pen for his unflattering depiction of the aristocracy. The second version eventually was approved, but not before Lermontov had been killed in a duel.
Masquerade unfolds like a Russian Othello, wherein the wealthy Eugene Arbenin poisons his beloved wife, Nina, convinced she has humiliated him by being unfaithful. The intrigue begins during a masked ball when Prince Zvezdich flirts with a disguised woman who gives him a bracelet as a token of affection. The prince brags about his encounter to Arbenin, who recognizes the bracelet as Nina’s. When Arbenin asks Nina about the bracelet she confesses she lost it, never imagining the doubt beginning to consume her husband. The actual mystery woman is a baroness friend of Nina, who, even after realizing Arbenin's suspicions, won't come forward for fear of damaging her own reputation. By the time the baroness ends her masquerade and sends a letter revealing Nina's innocence, it is too late: Nina is dead and Arbenin goes mad, overcome with grief and remorse.
Khachaturian's score reflects the glittering "upper crust" of society that masks the darkening drama. For the suite Khachaturian extracted three lively ballroom dances, the Waltz, Mazurka and rollicking Gallop. The Nocturne, a melancholy song featuring solo violin, and the lyrical Romance provide contrast. Khachaturian said the Waltz was especially challenging because it had to justify Nina’s exclamation, "How beautiful the new waltz is! ... Something between sorrow and joy gripped my heart." With its ominous undercurrent, the Waltz became one of Khachaturian's biggest hits, such that it was performed at his funeral.
Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1932)
Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, the Armenian Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) became among the best-known of Soviet composers, and several of his works, such as his piano and violin concertos and music from the ballets Spartacus and Gayane (with its famous Sabre Dance), continue to command a place in the world’s concert halls.
Although the Trio was written while Khachaturian was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, it demonstrates the marked influence of the Armenian folk music that fascinated him as a child and continued to color his mature compositions, so much so that he was posthumously honored by having his image used on Armenian currency!