Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2023

Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, Frank Beermann

Khachaturian: Symphony No. 3 'Simfoniya-poema'
Khachaturian: Gayane Suite No. 3

When Aram Khachaturian composed his Symphony-Poem in 1947 in search of new, contemporary forms of expression, he took a great risk. His idea of music for the modern Soviet man collided abruptly with the ideas of those who believed they had the right to decide on the limits of creative spirits and who had the power to enforce these ideas by any means. The result was that the symphonic poem for fifteen solo trumpets, organ and large orchestra disappeared from the scene for a decade and a half before it experienced its resurrection as the 'third symphony' now exactly sixty years ago and has since received ever greater attention. The forces of nature unleashed here actually eclipse everything else that the highly decorated composer has created, and pile up at the end to rhythmic-sound eruptions that had to unhinge the staid cosmos of the ideologists. This musical singularity, whose author can nevertheless be heard in every bar, is coupled with a suite from the successful ballet Gayaneh, whose Sabre Dance soon broke away from its context and conquered the world on an independent course, while dragging a tail of similarly attractive pieces with it - the Gopak, for example, whose spirited accelerando sets a surprising final point behind this new production.

"Don't even think about attempting this one on headphones: the gloriously over-the-top Symphony involves fifteen trumpets squaring up to a thunderous organ solo, so crank up your sound-system and make sure the neighbours are out (or at least warned). In between the bells and whistles, though, Beermann finds plenty of light and shade in the score, and the Gayaneh Suite is brilliantly done - especially the famous 'Sabre Dance', taken at breakneck speed and with mightily impressive precision." - Presto Music, June 2023.