The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra

“A huge symphonic composition in a new genre, by means of which I shall attempt to make a great impression on my audience,” was how Hector Berlioz described The score of his Symphonie fantastique, a clear manifesto of musical romanticism. The composer was not relying on The imagination of his audience, which had learned The classicist model of The symphony – from Haydn to Beethoven, – and as well as The titles of The movements he gave a symphony a well-developed literary programme in which autobiographical motifs are reflected: The story of The young composer’s passionate love for The Irish Harriet Smithson, prima donna of an English theatre company on tour in Paris.
In following The programme, The attentive listener will not miss The plot details of this musical “novella”, brilliantly brought to life by means of The symphony orchestra. The central image of The symphony, its idée fixe, is The theme of love which unites The entire cycle. It appears in various forms – ranging from The dreamlike contours of a beautiful and desirable woman in the first three movements to grotesque and caricature in the final two.

Aram Khachaturian composed The Violin Concerto in the summer of 1940 in just under two months. “Having completed The Concerto, I dedicated it to David Oistrakh,” The composer recalled, “… I remember how one musician congratulated me, saying ‘How happy you must be: you have written your Concerto, and now your son has been born’.”
David Oistrakh was enchanted by his friend’s latest work and learnt it immediately. “Very soon, in two or three days,” Khachaturian continued, “Oistrakh came to me at The House of Art in Staraya Ruza to perform The Concerto... My little cottage was full to bursting... And I and everyone else present were staggered by The firework that was Oistrakh’s performance. He performed The Concerto as if he had learnt it over The course of many months, as he subsequently went on to play it at The great venues.”
The picturesque beauty, vivid national flavour, festive optimism and virtuoso effervescence of The Concerto’s music also immediately enchanted professional musicians and The wider audience in general.
The premiere of The Violin Concerto came on 16 November 1940. The State Orchestra of The USSR was conducted by Alexander Gauk. Soon Oistrakh and Gauk presented The Concerto in Leningrad (24 December 1940), after which it came to be performed in Yerevan, Tbilisi, Kiev and Odessa. Abroad, Oistrakh’s recording of The Concerto won huge acclaim. The Concerto has since appeared in the repertoires of The world’s great violinists.
Iosif Raiskin