Trio in G minor for Clarinet, Violin and Piano
Andante con dolore, molto espressione
Allegro
Moderato
Born in Tiflis, Armenia, 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, Khachaturian did not find working under this restraint to be unduly limiting. Although, like all genuinely original Soviet artists, he often found himself on the receiving end of political threats, his gifts seem by and large to have been ideally suited to the demands of Socialist Realism. His 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) became classics of Soviet ballet and have held the repertoire through their melodiousness and sheer verve. That Khachaturian’s Armenian roots gave him something of a head start as a melodist was recognized by his contemporary Dmitri Kabalevsky: "The especially attractive features of Khachaturian’s music are in its folk roots. The rhythmic diversity of Transcaucasian folk-dance, the inspired improvisations of folk musicians; such are the sources from which his creativity has sprung".
Khachaturian’s musical showmanship and flair for orchestral colour meant that he was not especially drawn to chamber music. Apart from a handful of youthful duos, the Clarinet Trio, written in 1932, is his only full-length chamber work. Khachaturian was at this time a student of Nikolai Miaskovsky at the Moscow Conservatoire, but while the classically-orientated Miaskovsky may have prompted Khachaturian towards the trio as a form, the 29-year old composer’s approach to the Trio was wholly original – and so striking that Prokofiev himself recommended the work for performance overseas. None of its three movements is in sonata form, and, while the Trio begins in G minor, it ends, against all classical precedent, in C minor. The opening Andante con dolore, molto espressione is a lyrical duet between the clarinet and violin over piano accompaniment, with florid embellishments in the manner of Armenian folk improvisation. The Allegro second movement owes a clear debt to folk dance; but the brilliant precision with which the tone-colours are calculated and the rhythms inflected is the mark of a refined and highly accomplished composer. The final Moderato wears its folk-music allegiances openly, being a set of variations on a tune from Uzbekistan. After an initial statement of the theme on clarinet, the three instruments weave increasingly varied rhythmic patterns around the melody, the elaborately decorative writing for clarinet, in particular, evoking the style of near-Eastern folk musicians. "Considered as a whole," writes I.I. Martinov "the work bears all the flamboyant imprint of the folk-tradition, yet at the same time reveals a tendency towards picturesque juxtapositions of harmony and timbre, which are a favourite device with Khachaturian. In fact, this early trio clearly displays all the stylistic idiosyncrasies which have become familiar to those who know his music of a later period". Which is to say that, in its colour, energy, and youthful inventiveness, the Clarinet Trio represents Khachaturian at his highly entertaining best.
Richard Bratby, 2001
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
CLICK HERE for a wide and diverse selection of contemporary music and standard repertoire programme notes.