Classical Music

The three works on this album belong to a large group of masterpieces, which dispels the myth that Prokofiev – ‘shaker of foundations’ and ‘daring innovator’ – became, after his return to the USSR, an ‘acquiescent traditionalist’. But what message was the composer trying to convey? The texts Prokofiev set to music were „Party lyrics“ and in order to understand the reason behind, one must turn to the intriguing puzzle that is Prokofiev’s relationship with Soviet Russia.

The slow movement in classical music has many names: adagio, andante, largo, and marcia funèbre are just some of the best known. What they all have in common is their function in the composition scheme – as a centre of calm in a dynamic environment of allegros, scherzi and prestos which forces the listener to pause for a while and to allow a moment of introspection and contemplation.

„I’m scared of Bizet“, was Dmitri Shostakovich’s answer, when prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya turned for help with her lifelong dream: to create a CARMEN ballet. “You’ll be disappointed no matter what you write.”. The next composer to decline the nonsensical idea was Aram Khachaturyan. Composer no. 3 was found more accidentally: it was Rodion Shchedrin, who happened to be Plisetskaya’s husband. He wrote the entire score to the ballet’s movements and rhythms in only twenty days. Shchedrin called it “An arrangement of Bizet’s CARMEN for strings and percussion”.

Reminiscence of the famous Georgian conductor Djansug Kakhidze on the occasion of his 80th anniversary. He belonged to the small but highly prestigious group of East European conductors who set up a cultural counterdraft to the political conflicts in the times of cold war. He conducted almost every A class symphony orchestra of his hemisphere and became a much-vaunted advocate of late romantic orchestral repertoire.

Reminiscence of the famous Georgian conductor Djansug Kakhidze on the occasion of his 80th anniversary. He belonged to the small but highly prestigious group of East European conductors who set up a cultural counterdraft to the political conflicts in the times of cold war. He conducted almost every A class symphony orchestra of his hemisphere and became a much-vaunted advocate of late romantic orchestral repertoire.

Reminiscence of the famous Georgian conductor Djansug Kakhidze on the occasion of his 80th anniversary. He belonged to the small but highly prestigious group of East European conductors who set up a cultural counterdraft to the political conflicts in the times of cold war. He conducted almost every A class symphony orchestra of his hemisphere and became a much-vaunted advocate of late romantic orchestral repertoire.