"Spartacus": Suite No.2
1. Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
2. Entrance of the Merchants – Dance of a Roman Courtesan – General Dance
3. Entrance of Spartacus – Quarrel – Treachery of Harmodius
4. Dance of the Pirates
Aram Khachaturian was a member of the same generation of Soviet composers as Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Like them, he spent much of his working life under the restrictions of "Socialist Realism", the official Soviet artistic policy, which decreed that music should be tuneful, optimistic and rooted in folk song. Unlike them, working under this constraint did not unduly limit or distort Khachaturian’s artistic development. Although, like all genuinely original Soviet artists, he often found himself on the receiving end of political threats, his innate musical gift seems by and large to have been ideally suited to the demands of Socialist Realism. His purely orchestral works, such as his concertos for piano, violin and ‘cello, are effortlessly melodic and fluent, and when he chose dramatic subjects, he was pragmatic. His two major ballets, "Gayaneh" (1942) and "Spartacus" (1954) had impeccable political credentials – the former was set on a collective farm, the latter took as its subject the revolt of Roman slaves in 73BC. This story is best known in the West from Stanley Kubrick’s film; but in the USSR it would have been well known that Karl Marx considered Spartacus, the rebel leader, to be the first great proletarian hero. However, it’s clear that Khachaturian was first and foremost a musician, and that the stories of his ballets provided him with little more than a framework on which to hang his own, very individual music. The music of "Spartacus" does not sound particularly "Roman" or "ancient", but it does show all the hallmarks of Khachaturian’s personal style. It is full of the vigorous rhythms and sinuous melodies of his native Armenia, and shows to perfection what one critic has called "his flair for writing memorable melodies and scoring them in Technicolour".
"Spartacus" was written in 1953-54, in the aftermath of Stalin’s death, and marked Khachaturian’s creative rehabilitation – in 1954, he was made a "People’s Artist of the Soviet Union". It was first performed at the Kirov Theatre, Leningrad, in 1956, and later productions by the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, in 1958 and 1968 established it as one of the great Russian ballets. The story of the Roman slaves’ revolt under Spartacus, their betrayal, and their eventual defeat by the Roman general Crassus, provided Khachaturian with plentiful opportunities for solos, spectacular crowd scenes, action sequences, and colourful divertissements. The three concert suites from "Spartacus" give a selection of these, their order bearing no relation to the ballet’s somewhat complex plot. The second suite is the most frequently performed and recorded. The Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia opens the suite and is the best-known number from the whole ballet. It is an expansive love-duet for Spartacus and his wife; serene, ecstatic and passionate by turns, it shows Khachaturian’s melodic gift at its most inspired. The brilliant Entrance of the Merchants is followed by the languorous and distinctly oriental Dance of a Roman Courtesan, featuring lyrical solos for clarinet and violin. An energetic General Dance concludes this sequence. The third sequence illustrates tense and dramatic scenes of plot-development, as Spartacus becomes the victim of a conspiracy from amongst his own followers, and ends in sinister stillness. The brief closing movement of the suite, Dance of the Pirates is another divertissement – an excuse for Khachaturian to indulge in a vigorous Armenian folk dance.
Richard Bratby, 1999
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
CLICK HERE for a wide and diverse selection of contemporary music and standard repertoire programme notes.