From the 1950s onwards Khachaturian made records quite regularly in the Soviet Union. There were also sessions for Supraphon in Prague, Decca in Vienna and EMI during visits to London in 1954 and 1977. All the fruits of the 1954 sessions are here, with the exception of the short essay, In memoriam, for which there was no room on a very well-filled disc. It's true that Khachaturian re-recorded the Violin Concerto with Oistrakh for Melodiya in stereo (HMV, 5/69—nla), but the Masquerade items were not remade, and only shorter selections from Gayaneh were later recorded in Vienna and on the final London visit.
I don't feel that the 1954 mono sound is exactly state-of-the-art for its time, despite the expert attention of Paul Baily, the remastering engineer, but it is more than good enough to convey the superb quality of the Philharmonia's playing at a vintage period in their existence. Khachaturian was clearly a vigorous and effective conductor, and the players respond to his uncomplicated, outgoing style as a composer with obvious enthusiasm. The recordings were sandwiched between Beethoven sessions with Klemperer and must have made quite a pleasant contrast.
The Violin Concerto was written for Oistrakh in 1940. He plays with effortless, cheerful virtuosity in the outer movements and responds to the warmth of the central Andante in a particularly expressive, eloquent fashion. The three attractively romantic Masquerade pieces are very charmingly played, while in seven numbers from Gayaneh the Philharmonia tear into the faster items with great gusto, and produce a particularly beautiful quality of string tone in the Adagio. None of the music on this disc is exactly first-rate, but it all comes to life very vividly and enjoyably through being played with such expertise and authority.'