One of the keys to performing all Russian music well is knowing when to fade into the distance and when to play boldly and in the audience’s faces. Russian music is such a distinct musical tradition — born from a distinct culture, constantly torn between Eastern and Western traditions and ravaged by oppression for centuries.
Aram Khachaturian knew this well; he was Armenian, descended from a people murdered earlier in the 20th century in a terrible genocide, and he himself was publicly condemned and tried for being “formalist.” There are times, especially in Khachaturian’s “Violin Concerto,” which call for playing as if behind a misty veil, with a singing, mysterious and, above all, wistful longing tinged with sadness.
There are also times when Khachaturian demands a more playful or upfront and violent sound with more physical presence and fullness. James Ehnes plays with beautiful, rich and magical tone, exactly as the piece requires. However, the concerto suffers from a misunderstanding of when to play with distant longing and sadness and when to play with ferocity or enthusiasm in order to create the exotic sound world which the composer masterfully created.
The fault is not necessarily with Ehnes; in fact, it largely seems to come from the playing of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Technically perfect playing and a wonderful sense of phrasing help to make up for a sound sometimes too subtle and sometimes not nearly subtle enough, and overall, the excitement and lyrical beauty Ehnes brings to the piece make it a lovely and enchanting recording, well worth listening to again.
The Ehnes Quartet also performs Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 7” and “String Quartet No. 8” on this disk. While the eight quartet is one of the most loved masterpieces of the genre, the seventh has been much less explored, though both quartets together make a uniquely tragic and deeply personal pair. The Ehnes Quartet does not try to overwhelm with passionate intensity but allows the sarcastic, biting humor as well as the depths of lyric despair to speak for themselves. That is a quality too often missing in recordings of the eighth; when players try to force the music to be emotionally profound, they tend to miss the emotional profundity inherent in the music.
This recording is worth hearing for the magic of the Khachaturian alone; the sublime additions of the Shostakovich quartets make it even more irresistible.
