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Armenian fiddler stands out in growing crowd

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  • Armenian fiddler stands out in growing crowd

    The Gazette (Montreal)
    October 25, 2004 Monday
    Final Edition

    Armenian fiddler stands out in growing crowd: Ladies' Morning Musical
    Club guest has presence, excellent ear, freedom from technical
    encumbrances

    ARTHUR KAPTAINIS, The Gazette


    Young fiddlers are not exactly in short supply these days: a few more
    and we will have too many. It is safe to say, however, that there will
    always be demand for players of the calibre of Sergey Khachatryan, who
    played yesterday for the Ladies' Morning Musical Club.

    Short, dark and handsome, this 19-year-old Armenian conveyed serious
    intent with his very presence on the stage of Pollack Hall. Another
    harbinger of his merit was the balanced, consequential program.

    It was the playing, of course, that settled the matter. Bach's Solo
    Sonata in A Minor - especially the Fuga movement - established his
    excellent ear and total freedom from technical encumbrances. With a
    strong, ardent tone, Khachatryan could adopt the slow tempo he
    preferred in the Andante. This was followed by a finale in which the
    sudden, animating shifts of loud and soft were perfectly calibrated.

    Next came Brahms's Sonata Op. 108, also done in a deep, songful style.
    Interesting how gifted musicians who are not coached in sounding
    "modern" instinctively remind of us of great players of the past.
    Khachatryan's use of vibrato was pronounced, but not indiscriminate, as
    he demonstrated in Mozart's Sonata in E Minor by easing up a little on
    the throttle.

    In both of these probing works the young man was supported by his
    sister Lusine with piano playing of spot-on coordination and great
    expressive assurance.They collaborated to make a success of Arno
    Babadjanian's Violin Sonata of 1959, a 25-minute score of alternating
    thunderstorm and moonlight. One might invoke Prokofiev as a very
    distant musical relative of this late composer, but his style is quite
    individual. Performed as splendidly as this, the Violin Sonata belongs
    in the international repertoire.

    There were two encores, Sarasate's Playera (wonderfully dark and
    simple) and Ravel's Tzigane. I contrived to miss the latter showpiece
    in my enthusiasm reach my computer and write the good news.
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