Aram Khachaturian - Influence

Influence

Soviet (1983), Russian (2003) and Armenian (2003) stamps

Although he was born in what is now Georgia and lived most of his life in Russia, Aram Khachaturian has been an iconic figure for generations of Armenian composers. Most of his works are saturated with centuries-old motifs of Armenian culture. His works paved the way for new styles and daring explorations, although his own style was closely controlled by the regime. Khachaturian encouraged young composers to experiment with new sounds and find their own voices. His colorful orchestration technique, admired by Shostakovich and others in the past, is still noted for its freshness and vitality by modern composers. Khachaturian's influence can be traced in nearly all trends of Armenian classical traditions, whether in symphonic or chamber music. Composers who were particularly influenced by Aram Khachaturian include Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanian, Tigran Mansurian, Edgar Hovhannisyan, Edward Manukyan, Loris Tjeknavorian.

As a conductor, Khachaturian made several commercial recordings, including a 1953 recording of his second symphony with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, a 1963 stereo recording of the symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic, and EMI recordings of suites from Gayane and Masquerade and his violin concerto in 1954 (with David Oistrakh as soloist) with the Philharmonia Orchestra. He later made stereo recordings of the violin concerto (again with Oistrakh), the second symphony in 1977 on the Russian Disc label, and music from Gayane. Some of his recordings have been reissued on CD. Khachaturian's notable students were Aziz El-Shawan, Andrei Eshpai, Vyacheslav Grokhovsky, Mark Minkov, Alexey Rybnikov, Tolib Shakhidi, Mikael Tariverdiev, Enrique Ubieta, Anatol Vieru.