Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The one piece by Aram Khachaturian that is known the world over is the Adagio from his ballet Spartacus. Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s record company knew exactly what it was doing when it placed it first on this disc. Even in an arrangement for solo piano, the music soars and carries one’s spirit on the wing.From there to the main event, a performance of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, is a step down. The concerto scored a success in its early years, but is rarely encountered live these days, leaving only the occasional recording.Here is a widescreen, Hollywood vision of what a piano concerto should be. There are fistfuls of notes, brassy climaxes, and periodically it works up to the grand announcement of a big tune — but glorious melodies of the kind familiar from the concertos of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov fail to arrive.Compared to previous recordings, Thibaudet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, are a lot faster. This is wholly to the good and music that previously seemed feebly bombastic now acquires tremendous panache from the soloist and a play-it-for-all-its-worth razzmatazz from conductor and orchestra. The slow movement, with its haunting part for flexatone (an instrument that sounds a bit like Messiaen’s ondes Martenot), comes across a treat.If a recording of Khachaturian’s concerto is wanted, this live performance makes a clear first choice. Thibaudet adds a selection of the composer’s solo piano pieces, including half a dozen of the Pictures of Childhood and the Masquerade Suite, all appealingly played.★★★★☆‘Khachaturian: Piano Concerto’ is released by Decca
