Armenian Philharmonic Creates Energy

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?

With conductor Loris Tjeknavorian at the helm, the 70-year-old orchestra--presented to a packed house by the Armenian General Benevolent Union--proved to be a stylish and well drilled ensemble, aurally flavorful if perhaps too robust for some.

There certainly was no pussyfooting by the brass: edgy trombones, brilliant, stinging trumpets, vibrating, narrow-toned horns, all bells aloft and blaring. The strings displayed better manners, a finesse of step, softness of hue and uniform technique. (The players all train at one of three conservatories, in Yerevan, St. Petersburg or Moscow.) Some spotty tuning aside, the woodwinds revealed tartness individually and a pastel blend.

Aram Khachaturian’s seldom-heard Second Symphony was the main event. Written in 1943, the work is an imposing wartime statement in the mode and style of Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony, by turns darkly agonized and triumphantly optimistic, complete with funeral dirge and Dies Irae. Glittery splashes of ethnic color and propulsive rhythm hark back to “Scheherazade.” Tjeknavorian, a straightforward though urgent leader, presided over a big, aggressive performance, not long on subtlety but unflaggingly energized and piquantly colored.

The concert began with a zinging dispatch of Shostakovich’s “Festive” Overture, given a snappy fit and full-bore bravura by these players. Alexander Chaushian, the 19-year-old cellist, then brought abiding lyricism and ample technique to Saint-Saens’ First Cello Concerto, the orchestra in airy if occasionally untidy support. At concert’s end, the encores kept coming--they may still be at it.