Claire Jackson delves into the finest recordings of this flamboyant showpiece, a dazzling array of eastern colour and virtuoso fireworks
Building a library
The work
Bold, brash and bombastic – as well as beguilingly beautiful – Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto is a showstopper. Like much of the composer’s music, it draws on a colourful timbral palette – notably the flexatone or, less commonly, a musical saw, which appears in the middle movement (more on that later). Its melodic and stylistic freedom is evocative of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, with dramatic keyboard ascents and descents and a rumbling bass. The whirring motifs frequently take inspiration from eastern folk music: although he was born in what is now Tbilisi, Georgia, Khachaturian identified closely with his Armenian heritage – driving rhythms and spiralling cadenzas fill his Piano Concerto.
The opening Allegro maestoso begins with a bang. Timpani leads the orchestra on a stomping hill-walk to the piano entry, which mimics and expands the theme, throwing it back to the ensemble. You’ll know by this point whether this piece is for you or not: melodic development, though enjoyable, is not particularly imaginative. The cadenza concludes with a jolly orchestral flourish; the twirling theme reappears and the piano duets with woodwind. A flute solo underlines the eastern harmonic influence.
That influence is picked up in the following Andante con anima, with its folksy, mysterious melodies. This movement is famous – or notorious – for its use of a flexatone, a percussion instrument that features a small metal plate that is hit by beaters, creating an otherworldly tremolo sound. It produces a similar effect to the older, more established, musical saw, which is often used in lieu of it. The unusual timbre enhances the distinctive harmonies and gives the music a strange, unsettling overtone, albeit briefly – the percussion part comprises two minutes in what is a half-hour work.
The final Allegro brillante follows a Lisztian tradition for piano pyrotechnics: virtuosic passages pour across the keyboard, pausing to refuel in the lower octaves, before gathering pace for the final rush alongside the orchestra. After a quick revisit of the original theme – we’ve never lost sight of it on the horizon – there’s a big, brassy finale. The smell of gunpowder lingers in the air.
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