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CD Review

Kara Karayev

Ballet Suites

  • The Seven Beauties Ballet Suite
  • Waltz
  • Adagio
  • The Dance of The Clowns
  • The Seven Portraits
  • Introduction
  • The Indian Beauty
  • The Byzantine Beauty
  • The Khorezmian Beauty
  • The Slavonic Beauty
  • The Maghrebian Beauty
  • The Chinese Beauty
  • The Most Beautiful of The Beauties
  • The Procession
  • The Path of Thunder Ballet Suite
  • General Dance
  • The Dance of The Girls with Guitars
  • The Dance of The Black Community
  • Night in Stilleveld
  • Scene and Duet
  • Lullaby
  • The Path Of Thunder (Finale)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry Yablonsky
Naxos 8.573122 69m
Find it at AmazonFind it at Amazon UKFind it at Amazon GermanyFind it at Amazon CanadaFind it at Amazon FranceFind it at Amazon JapanOrder Now from ArkivMusic.comFind it at CD Universe Find it at JPC

Born in 1918, Russian Kara Karayev lived until 1982 as one of the more notable pupils of Shostakovich. He had a love of folk melodies, especially from his native Azerbaijan, and also used melodies from other parts of the world as he saw fit. The present disc looks to explore this little known composers' wide range of influences and musical gifts. As heard here, they were considerable.

These ballet suites are engaging and easy on the ear. There are moments of clear folk influence – not to mention echoes of his great teacher – but there is also a sense of great musical instinct. There's much beauty here, and we find less of the darkness that seemed to permeate his teacher's works. By and large, it's light music, but very good music. My colleague Robert Cummings had similar praise.

Mr. Cummings is also correct in noting that The Path of Thunder is a little darker and deeper, both musically and emotionally. Since the subject matter is forbidden love in apartheid-era South Africa, a little more grimness can be forgiven. Again though, the music remains lively and alert, with nods to everyone from the African communities to Prokofiev, as the score was dedicated in the memory of the latter.

The Royal Philharmonic is in great form, and plays with heart and enthusiasm. Dmitry Yablonsky clearly loves this music, and Naxos gives wonderful sound to back up the project. Anyone who loves ballet music will surely enjoy this. A winner.

Copyright © 2014, Brian Wigman

Trumpet

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