# Caucasus russian-goergian classical music worth checking out old or new music



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

the title says it all :tiphat:


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## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

I've always liked Ippolitov-Ivanov. Caucasian sketches, Symphony 1, Turkish march, Turkish fragments, Armenian rhapsody.

Naxos has a CD of Azerbaijani piano concerti, including Adigezalov and Amirov. Excellent disc. They also have a disc of Symphonic Mugams (not sure what that means) by Amirov. The Azerbaijani Capriccio on that disc is awesome.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Listen to the recordings made by Alexander Grindenko - especially Russian Christmas, Suprasl and Panikhida.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Don't miss what you can find of Otar Taktakishvilli. There's a wonderful Symphony no. 2 on Russian Disc, and a Piano Concerto worth hearing.


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## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

mbhaub said:


> Don't miss what you can find of Otar Taktakishvilli. There's a wonderful Symphony no. 2 on Russian Disc, and a Piano Concerto worth hearing.


Never heard of Taktakishvili. I am definitely checking him out. Thanks for mentioning!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Georgian composer Giya Kancheli is well worth exploring.


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## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

I forgot about Kancheli. I second that.

There are a lot of composers that I just never really thought abouty where they were from. I got an album of songs by the Armenian composer Mansurian recently. Good stuff. Also, I completely forgot about Khachaturian. And then there is Hovhaness. I love his music, but know nothing of him, personally. Considered an American composer? But he was Armenian?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Hovhaness was of Armenian descent, but born in the USA.

Among Armenian composers, Alexander Arutiunian should be mentioned. Most famous for his trumpet concerto, but I found his violin concerto the real gem in his repertoire.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Azerbaijan seems to limp behind the other two ex-Soviet states in the Caucasus in this respect, but what I've heard of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh was interesting.


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## JEC (Mar 11, 2015)

I can also vouch for the Naxos series. A new discovery for me was Gliere's Shakh-Senem Overture (on Chandos with Vassily Sinaisky). Also, there are some great Karayev discs out there - his "Seven Beauties Suite" has that flavor.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Another vote for Taktakishvili, such as the violin concertos.

There are of course many fine composers. Mansurian is good, at times comparable to Pärt and Silvestrov, 








and I like Felix Glonti too, unfortunately he is under-recorded





Azarashvili´s piano quintet is recommendable and comparable to say Shostakovich - it´s on youtube. 




Tigranian´s operas are quite nice, at times beautiful and ceremonial-sounding, a bit like Boris Godunov, with big choral sections. 
They made one of them into a film. The youtube versions mostly have rather poor sound
"David Bek"


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## OMD (Feb 6, 2021)

First thing to be aware of is all the Caucasus countries have distinct alphabets, so composers names are spelled phonetically in English and Russian. Good to know when you're looking for recordings on-line! Most have at least two common spellings. The Azerbaijani composer Tofik Guliev/Kuliev's violin concerto, played by Mark Lubotsky on Russian Disc, is probably my favorite folk-themed orchestral piece from the USSR days. It is white hot out of the blocks, not for tourists. Hard to find anything else by him. Kara Karaev (also spelled with G's) was a student and friend of Shostakovich, but most of his stuff is pleasant and safe. The third symphony and his late (1967) violin concerto are the two works where he set caution aside and both have fine Naxos recordings. There are some fine Armenian composers, too, but to my mind Georgia produced the largest number of great composers via its Tbilisi conservatory. Sulkhan Tsintsadze and Giya Kancheli are best known. Kancheli is considered a "Thaw" composer and is "hip" as a result of his ECM New Series releases. His symphonies on Olympia are also worth seeking out. Tsintsdadze (I've also seen Zinzadze...) is known for some folk-ish orchestral pieces, but his cello concerto is outstanding (Maximillian Hornung plays it phenomenally), and he wrote a bunch of string quartets that are very, very potent. Almost all of the Georgian composers (and Azerbaijani composers as well) are indebted to Shostakovich's post-Stalin work; Shostakovich reciprocated the love. They combined it with the eerie folk melodies of the mountains to produce stunning music. Taktakishvili mentioned above should be well known. He is famous for a sort of tepid flute sonata thing, but his two violin concertos - esp. as rendered by Liana Isakadze - are GREAT. Sulkhan Nasidze is sort of well known for his third symphony, a chamber symphony, which is really good, but his double concerto for violin and cello is outstanding, as is his oboe concerto. He also wrote a bunch of great string quartets. The 5th is my favorite. Part of why there are so many great string quartets by Georgians (Iosif Bardanshivili also wrote a bunch) is because of a great string quartet in Tbilisi, the Georgian State String Quartet, about whom there is a fine English-subtitled doc on Youtube. Nodar Gabunia is another Georgian with a great violin concerto. I play Georgian composers on my radio show, and these two links might serve as good intros.
https://concentrationcamp.music.blog/2020/09/09/cc-mixtape-37-georgia/
https://www.mixcloud.com/deafmix3/6...ze-graysyna-bacewicz-babajanian-nic-tzortzis/


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## cheregi (Jul 16, 2020)

T Son of Ander said:


> Symphonic Mugams (not sure what that means)


Not sure how important this information is to you or anyone else in this thread, but - the 'mugams' or similar transcriptions like 'maqams' are the melodic modes used in music systems all the way from Morocco to Western China, with of course major regional differences. They're typically used as a basis for improvisation, but I know at least in Kazakhstan there was a Soviet project of removing improvisation, and using each maqam's characteristic melodic motion as the basis for a strictly composed 'ideal' form of that maqam. I wouldn't be surprised if a similar thing happened in Azerbaijan.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Paliashvili's operas are worth exploring as well

Daisi





Abesalom da Eteri


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

If you haven't heard Armenian Avet Terteryan, you haven't lived. I have all his symphonies and they are seriously sounds that one can only imagine by living in Central Asia.
Also Georgian Giya Kancheli who may be easier to locate.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I only know the 3rd & 4th from the Chandos recording. He makes interesting sound effects (like the two trombones slipping all over in the 3rd, followed by the kazoos, or whatever they are), but frankly following any symphonic logic is beyond me. Heavy use of percussion tires the ear.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Caucasus russian-goergian classical music worth checking out old or new music*

An area of music I'm quite fond of. Those Russian Disc recordings cover much ground in this area. I've picked up quite a few over the years. Along with the later Olympia discs, which often duplicate the RD releases.

One of my favorite Soviet-Russian composers was born in Novocherkassk, which one may consider in the same region. His name: Gavril Popov. The symphonies are fascinating.


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

Haji Khanmammadov - Concerto for Kamancha and Symphonic Orchestra
from Azerbaijan


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