A portrait of the Soviet-era Armenian composer Arno Babajanian through a trio of his most significant chamber works.

The Russian piano-trio repertoire is dominated by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. Yet anyone encountering Babajanian’s Trio in F sharp minor will be struck by its central place within that tradition. The melodies are opulent, the expression direct and intense, the style essentially post-Romantic yet recognisably of its postwar era. Babajanian was 31 when he composed it in 1951, having by then won recognition as the most accomplished of Armenian composers in the generation following his compatriot Aram Khachaturian. Indeed, it was Khachaturian who had recognised Babajanian’s creative promise at a very early age and smoothed the path for his admission to the conservatoire in Yerevan at the tender age of seven.

Thereafter, Babajanian studied in Moscow with star teachers such as the pianist Konstantin Igumnov and the composer Vissarion Shebalin. Well-received premieres during the 1940s led to the first performance of the Violin Concerto in 1949, given by Leonid Kogan, the Leningrad Philharmonic and Yevgeny Mravinsky.

At the same time, Babajanian did not fit a pre-conceived mould of a ‘Soviet composer’. Shostakovich recognised and admired this independence of mind, and proved instrumental in the wider acceptance of the Violin Sonata which Babajanian wrote in 1958. By then, Babajanian had embraced modernist principles including 12-tone writing within an idiom always accented by the folk music of his Armenian heritage. Though the Sonata was initially vilified for its ‘formalist’ style, Shostakovich advised the composer not to alter it, and accepted the dedication of the score to him.

The Sonata still stands as a remarkably original work of its time, as tough and uncompromising as it is engaging and underpinned by strong, rhythmic expression.

All three musicians are based in The Netherlands, where this recording was made in 2021. The violinist Igor Ruhadze has recorded several albums of Baroque repertoire for Brilliant Classics, including a much admired survey of Locatelli (94358) with his own Ensemble Violini Capricciosi.

‘The playing is elegantly supple, the string tone warm and the architecture of individual movements thoughtfully worked out… brilliantly and at times breathtakingly performed.’ – Gramophone