Khachaturian revived

It is fair to say that the music of Aram Khachaturian has fallen off the radar rather on disc in recent years. That doesn't necessarily mean its popularity overall has diminished, for a lot of this music remains popular due to exposure in films and on television, but there is a genuine space in the catalogue for a modern digital recording that can give these scores the colourful interpretations they need.

That space can now be considered closed, thanks to the second recording in partnership from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and their new principal conductor Kirill Karabits, who has made his own selections from Spartacus and Gayaneh to comfortably fill a single disc. Karabits is a charismatic Ukranian, relatively young for a conductor at 34, but one who has the measure of these stage works and their potential.

You only have to head straight to the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia to see what I mean, with some lovely, opulent textures, perhaps not hitting the full intensity of the composer's red blooded recording with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, but swooning gracefully nonetheless.

It is actually in the less familiar music that these recordings fully prove their worth. During Spartacus the violins are beautifully poised, nowhere more so than in the Adagio of Aegina and Harmodius, and the charming Variation that follows. In the Dance of the Gadiatnian Maidens it is easier to trace Khachaturian's musical heritage to Mussorgsky as the orchestra responds to a mellow clarinet solo, before Karabits revs the orchestra's engine to a thrilling climax. The Scene and Dance with Crotala, meanwhile, trips along attractively, the melodies always to the fore but with a glassy clarity in the recording that suits the music well. Any more clarity and it would be spotlit, but the engineers seem to have got this one just right.

Gayaneh proves every bit as enjoyable, the raucous Lezginka shaking a leg, while the inflections of the violins' melodies in the Carpet embroidery scene are brilliantly turned. Aysha's Monologue swings nicely, the violins enjoying their melodic freedom. Just occasionally there is too much reverb in numbers such as the Scene and Dance, where the brass sound as if they are up the other end of a large room. Definition in the Sword Dance, which most people know as the Sabre Dance, is very fine, the excitement levels high throughout.

These are just the sort of recordings scores like Spartacus and Gayaneh need, with vivid orchestral colours and interpretations that are packed with charm, wit and rhythmic bounce. As such they are hugely rewarding.