The musical and recording career of pianist Victoria Terekiev has been characterized over the years by a strong consistency in exploring and discovering the East European musical poetics. Already in her first release with Da Vinci Classics [Pancho Vladigerov, Miniatures, 2018, C00134] Terekiev proved herself an expression of a world that often has extra-musical qualities and still cannot be fully appreciated by the enormous audience of fans and musicians.
The decision to pursue her own path by devoting herself to a composer like Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978), in a first project that foreshadows the complete piano works of the composer, is therefore particularly meaningful and counts as one of the most important titles in her career as a performer, and it is no coincidence that the chosen title is precisely "An Armenian in Moscow".
Khachaturian, of Armenian descent, led the musical organization in the former Soviet Union for many years and was also a prolific composer of concertos, ballets and symphonic music. Optimistic and lighthearted, his musical poetics can only be regarded as a consequence of the dictates of that time and despite an enormous output in almost every genre, he left behind a limited amount of music devoted to the piano.
However, it can easily be classified among the happiest and most successful music written in the 20th century, strewn with true jewels such as the Toccata (1932), the Sonatina (1958) or the magnificent Masquerade Suite (1941-44), all works that are recorded on this album.
Alongside these masterworks, however, Victoria Terekiev places other, no less important works by the composer, which demonstrate a great ability to move both within the most minute and seemingly simple forms, such as the Children's Album (1926 - 1947), and within more imposing and narrative structures such as the Poem (1927), one of probably the most successful and fascinating pieces Khachaturian ever composed and which, thanks to the present interpretation, becomes pure music, far beyond the instrument, the period or the place of conception.
Like a modern Aedo, Victoria Terekiev in this revelatory project gives a voice back to an author who is still too little listened to and to a world that only seems wrongly far away and which, observing without prejudice, speaks directly to the heart, tells her own story and becomes a viaticum for that of humanity.
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