ARAM KHACHATURIAN - SYMPHONY N.3 (SYMPHONY-POEM)

Details

Description

By the 30th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, Aram Khachaturian had written a monumental work for the big symphony orchestra with a trio of wind instruments, 15 soloing trumpets and an organ; it was called the Symphony-Poem.
Due to the enlarged staff of the orchestra, an extraordinarily strong sound was achieved.
The composer didn't preface the new work with a program or with an epigraph, nor did he write a devotion which might have helped determine its contents. Two themes lie in the basis of this one-part Symphony-Poem: the two themes, determining the development of the composition.
This work's destiny was not an easy one. In January 1948, the Symphony-Poem was sharply criticized by the government during the conference of the prominent figures of the Soviet music; in particular, the criticism was a result of the setting 15 trumpets and an organ into the score. Khachaturian's name was mentioned among the names of Myaskovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich -- the so called "composers-formalists".
Both as a composer and as a man, A. Khachaturian was not prepared for such attacks. "We had been waiting for our constituent assembly so long! Well, just here and at this very time I was insulted so unfairly and undeservedly... I was depressed and wasted away. I started seriously thinking over changing my profession..."-- recalled the composer afterwards.
Later on, the composer renamed the Symphony-Poem into the Third Symphony. Its premiere took place in Leningrad (St.-Petersburg) in 1947 under the conduction of Y. Mravinsky. Eventually the Third Symphony has occupied a remarkable place in the world's musical culture.