Spartacus

1.Bacchante’s Melancholic Dance 2.Night Incident 3.Tarantella 4.Saturnalia

Ever since being used as the theme tune to BBC TV’s The Onedin Line, the Adagio from Spartacus – originally danced by the hero and his wife Phrygia – has been an international hit and the single best-known number of the ballet. But how many people know the original full ballet score, scored for a large orchestra and chorus? And how much more powerful that Adagio is when heard in context!

For, unlike Gayaneh, Spartacus is not merely a ballet of dance ‘numbers’, but Khachaturian’s most ambitious stage work, in which he emulated the symphonic style of the best ballets of Tchaikovsky and Prokofieff (particularly of Romeo and Juliet). That said, the entire score is probably best heard accompanying the ballet itself. In concert, highlights from the ballet are often programmed, including four orchestral suites selected by the composers and scenes taking the form of symphonic pictures.

Suite No.4 collects a number of additional pieces composed by Khachaturian for the 1956 Leningrad production of the ballet. Highlights include the Bacchante’s Melancholic Dance featuring a flute solo accompanied by Gymnopédie-style chords, and the lively Saturnalia with which the suite ends.
Note by Daniel Jaffé