Dreh Punkt Kultur, von Horst Reischenböck

” The young violin virtuoso, long since ennobled as winner of the Sibelius Competition and the Concours Reine Elizabeth, presented himself with the most popular of all romantic violin concertos from Russia – namely Opus 35 in D major by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

 

Attempting to strain Caesar’s Veni, vidi, vici: Sergey Khachatryan managed to do just that with a more than impressive performance. First, the orchestral entry into the Allegro moderato, which was clearly and decisively formulated by the conductor Chang. Then, in addition to perfectly exploiting the solo, Sergey Khachatryan repeatedly drew attention with his enchanting dynamic reduction in the lyrical moments. In the same spirit, he moved on with the Andante of the Canzonetta before plunging into the concluding Allegro vivacissimo.

 

Encores were out of the question after that. First, a movement from the rare half-dozen sonatas pour violon solo op. 27 by the Belgian Eugène Ysaÿe, written over a hundred years ago, carried by the same passionate approach, as well as restrained, internalizes the melody of a folk song from Khachatryan’s homeland of Armenia.”