Decca's first batch of CDs in their new Enterprise series has unleashed some valuable gems from their back catalogue. Unfortunately, this particular disc is by far the weakest in terms of musical content. Khachaturian's Second Symphony was composed in 1943 and, like Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony of 1941, was written against the background of the German invasion, and subsequent victory of the Soviet people. Its epic proportions far outweigh the slender, and for the most part, unmemorable material—this is note-spinning on a vast scale.
The first movement rejects sonata-form, as the sleeve-note informs us, in favour of a mosaic method of construction. In this case this simply means that we are presented with several themes and motives continually rearranged until a satisfactory conclusion is arrived at, which speaking for myself is long before the conclusion reached by Khachaturian. The following Allegro risoluto is by far the most successful movement; here we glimpse the Khachaturian of works such as Gayaneh and Spartacus, but even here the melodic interest is spread dangerously thin over the nine and a half minutes duration. The slow movement could be seen as an equivalent to the opening movement of Shostakovich's Leningrad; representing the inexorable tread of the invading troops, but unlike the Leningrad there is no sense of encroaching terror. Instead we are presented with a colourless dirge, whose only melodic interest lies in the appearance of the well known Dies irae plainchant, which more than outstays its welcome over the 14-minute time-span of this movement. The last movement, far from being victorious, is simply dull.
Salvation, however, is at hand in the form of the far superior Gayaneh suite fill-up, although readers should note that this recording is also available on Decca's Ovation series, coupled with the Spartacus suite, and a selection of items taken from Lorin Maazel's superb recording of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet ((CD) 417 737-2DM).
The performances of both the Symphony and the Suite are very fine indeed, but the recording, once regarded as demonstration quality, has not worn well with time; a certain amount of distortion affects both the opening and closing pages of the Symphony, which I am sure is due to inadequacies inherent in the original master-tape, rather than in the otherwise superb digital remastering.'