Aram Khachaturian

Khachaturian. You may not know his name -- but you've almost certainly heard his music. If you've seen the movies "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Caligula" or "National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation" -- you've heard Khachaturian. If you've ever turned on a television -- you've heard Khachaturian, since his music has been used in countless shows, among them "Ally McBeal," "The Simpsons" and "Scooby Doo," as well as in commercials selling everything from vacuum cleaners to Aussie Hair Care products.

As enthralling as it is informative, Peter Rosen's "Khachaturian" celebrates the impassioned music of the great Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian (1903-78) who, drawing from Armenian folk music, was an idealistic supporter of communism after the revolution. However, in the post-World War II era, he ran afoul, as did most of his peers, of Stalin's decision to respond to the uproar over the descent of the Iron Curtain by condemning artists widely admired in the West.

As enthralling as it is informative, Peter Rosen's "Khachaturian" celebrates the impassioned music of the great Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian (1903-78) who, drawing from Armenian folk music, was an idealistic supporter of communism after the revolution. However, in the post-World War II era, he ran afoul, as did most of his peers, of Stalin's decision to respond to the uproar over the descent of the Iron Curtain by condemning artists widely admired in the West.

Quietly obscured by this year's dominant Berlioz bicentennial is another milestone: the centennial of the birth of the great Armenian composer -- indeed, the Armenian Tchaikovsky -- Aram Khachaturian. The mainstream musical institutions are just passing this one by, and record labels have not taken up the cause aside from a handful of single discs.

Quietly obscured by this year's dominant Berlioz bicentennial is another milestone: the centennial of the birth of the great Armenian composer -- indeed, the Armenian Tchaikovsky -- Aram Khachaturian. The mainstream musical institutions are just passing this one by, and record labels have not taken up the cause aside from a handful of single discs.

In his Jan. 24 review of the Los Angeles Philharmonic ["Major Soloist, Minor Work"], Chris Pasles compared Gil Shaham's performance of Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto with that of the piece's dedicatee and its original champion -- the legendary David Oistrakh -- stating that "Shaham, unlike the stern-faced Oistrakh, displayed exemplary warmth in his playing." If warmth of playing is measured by the number of beatific smiles on the soloist's face, then Shaham, who is without a doubt a very fine violinist, would certainly be in a class all by himself.

Emotions ran high at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sunday. Billed as an "Armenian Spirit Concert," commemorating "the 71st anniversary of the Genocide," the event also served as a homecoming for conductor Varujan Kojian, who had served as assistant concertmaster with the Los Angeles Philharmonic some years back. The ex-Utah Symphony music director led his new orchestra, the Santa Barbara Symphony, in works by Armenian composers Richard Yardumian, Aram Khachaturian and--Rimsky-Korsakov?

In recent seasons, Mahler's seminal First Symphony, which had tended to be neglected by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in favor of its more grandiose, subsequent fellows, has become something of a signature piece. The close attention and affection of Esa-Pekka Salonen--who, for instance, showcased the work in the fall of 1999--achieved this. The orchestra returned to its beauties Thursday, on the second and final program led by guest conductor Adam Fischer.

The chance to hear the Armenian Philharmonic at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Friday offered the curious listener a rather mysterious prospect. Yerevan, the orchestra's home, is not generally thought of as a classical music capital. Was this going to be exotic or painful or what?

If Mehli Mehta had ended the 25th anniversary season of his American Youth Symphony on less than an invigorating, powerful and heartfelt note, he would have surprised a few of the faithful. Predictably, the 81-year-old conductor didn't do either Sunday at Royce Hall, UCLA. Nor was that likely with a program of 20th-Century Soviets--big-boned music of Prokofiev, Khachaturian and Shostakovich, the kind this orchestra trainer regularly gives his young charges with great success.

Khachaturian. You may not know his name -- but you've almost certainly heard his music. If you've seen the movies "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Caligula" or "National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation" -- you've heard Khachaturian. If you've ever turned on a television -- you've heard Khachaturian, since his music has been used in countless shows, among them "Ally McBeal," "The Simpsons" and "Scooby Doo," as well as in commercials selling everything from vacuum cleaners to Aussie Hair Care products.

Later, in this newest Long Beach Symphony season, JoAnn Falletta will conduct bona fide peaks of the repertory, masterpieces by Brahms, Berlioz, Mahler, Dvorak, Mozart and Rachmaninoff. For the opening, however, the music director chose works of the second rank. Thus, the orchestra's 62nd season began with Christopher Rouse's amusing but gimmicky "The Infernal Machine," the tawdry Piano Concerto (1936) by Aram Khachaturian and Richard Strauss' refulgent but bloated "Ein Heldenleben."

Pianist Vatche Mankerian presented a deeply satisfying, physically demanding recital ranging from Bach to Khachaturian, with a helping of popular Rachmaninoff and Chopin in between, Sunday evening at Occidental College's Thorne Hall. Surprisingly, it was the Bach that held sway. The 27-year-old Mankerian, a member of the Pasadena Conservatory of Music faculty, played Bach's English Suite No.