With the help of divine power

The violinist Karen Shakhgaldyan, the cellist Karen Kocharyan and the pianist Armine Grigoryan perform very well together; they are a rewarding example of the ensemble mastery imbued with vivid feelings. At the same time, it is not hard to realize how good they are as soloists, because each one of them demonstrates a remarkable musical technique. A quixotic spontaneity of the violin, a stylish softness of the cello, a clear and insightful imagery of the piano – definitely, we could talk at length about the poetic phrasing by Karen Shakhgaldyan, how he lives inside phrases and, what is totally inconceivable, inside notes; about the refined intellectualism of Karen Kocharyan, whose bow draws divine sounds out of the depths of the cello; about the exquisite expression and delicate pianism of Armine Grigoryan; talk about them and admire them. Each emotion in their music is expressed both comprehensively and vicariously; there is no excessiveness, but only the brightest expressiveness.

This is the right time to remind that, among other events, the Malta International Music Festival celebrated the 115th anniversary of the birth of Aram Khachaturian. This is why the programme included popular classical music: the waltz for the play Masquerade by Mikhail Lermontov, Adagio from the ballet Spartacus, fragments from the ballet Gayane by Aram Khachaturian, and Nocturne by Arno Babadjanian. However, not everything is so simple. The sophisticated mastery of the trio was transforming every, even quite familiar, musical interpretation into fresh ideas, which were incredibly fascinating. The rich instrumentalism of the trio participants, their wisdom and airiness were as if shedding light onto everything around, so that the stage and the audience in the hall, that used to be a Methodist church, were incorporated a special work of art.

Together with the music by Khachaturian, the trio named after the composer performed exquisite, witty and elegant pieces by Alexey Shor. These pieces of music, when put together, formed quite an unusual cycle. “This assembling of pieces is very similar to when children play with Lego, – said Karen Shakhgaldyan shortly before the concert. – My son, for example, likes to assemble Lego all day long, very skillfully and very quickly. Something similar happened to us: we started to play and after a while we saw the outline of the future structure, and in the end it all worked out”.

Indeed, the seven pieces –Adieu, Age, Farewell nocturne, King Matt the First, Luxembourg Garden, Saint Elmo barcarolle, and Shubertango – as if gained a common leitmotif and similar features, despite different genres, history and geography. The origin of these pieces is also very different: for example, Saint Elmo barcarolle was first composed as a piano miniature and Shubertango in its previous life was written for viola and orchestra. However, it is almost impossible to believe it, as the ‘magnificent seven’ ideally fit the signature sound of the piano trio.

The musicians had been contemplating the compositions of Khachaturian and Shor, and they presented the music, which is quite rare today – natural, accessible, sincere and creative. The trio was playing this music most tactfully and with the most serious attitude towards the profession, turning even such classical hits like the Sabre Dance into a noble musical matter without any glamorous flavour. Pure joy was the tuning fork of the evening – it seemed that both Karens and Armine had come together to play music for their own pleasure and pleasure of the audience. Insiders reported that Karen Kocharyan was playing the cello that had been borrowed for the occasion, because, due to the circumstances, his own instrument had been delayed in the airport storage room, but it only added charm to the whole situation.

P.S. The compositions performed by the Khachaturian trio at the concert are now available on a recently recorded CD released by Sony. This will definitely be a Platinum collection.

Lina Goncharskaya