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This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” join me for Leopold Stokowski’s rarely-heard recording of Aram Khachaturian’s Symphony No. 2.

Khachaturian composed the work in 1943, the height of World War II, while holed up at a Composers Union retreat with Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Miaskovsky, and Glière. He described the piece as “a requiem of protest against war and violence.” Its nickname, “The Bell,” alludes to a kind of alarm that opens and closes the work. Overall, the tone is one of unshakable resolve in the face of tragedy.

Stokowski’s recording, long unavailable, was originally issued on United Artists Records in the late 1950s. It reappeared briefly on compact disc, on the EMI label, in 1994, and again in 2009, as part of a 10-disc box set of entrancing Stokowski performances.

Alas, the master tapes have not weathered the years well, so there are moments of distortion, but the power of the work under Stokowski’s direction transcends any technical limitations.

To round out the hour, we’ll hear Russian-born pianist Nadia Reisenberg in a selection from her 1947 Carnegie Hall recital, Khachaturian’s most famous piano piece, the “Toccata.” Reisenberg studied at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music under Josef Hoffman.

I hope you’ll join me for music by Khachaturian other than the “Sabre Dance.” That’s “Khach as Catch Can,” this Sunday at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

“Sabre Dance” at the Bolshoi, with Khachaturian conducting:

Khachaturian singing about the glories of Armenian wine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKHrg7w3_o

PHOTO: Troika! (Right to left) Khachaturian with Shostakovich and Prokofiev