Before tackling this release, I fished out a much earlier review (2008) of a two-CD EMI now Warner set of Khachaturian’s Greatest Hits, which were all the rage in the late 1990s and early 2000s. My overall conclusion was that his ballet music was better than his purely orchestral stuff i.e. the concertos and symphonies. While I’m not trying to furnish corroborating evidence, I can’t help remembering a series compiled by the late lamented Bob Maynard on ABC Classic FM called “These you haven’t loved” where people nominated the worst music they’d ever heard. One of the works mentioned was Khachaturian’s Third Symphony!  

The Soviet regime adored Khachaturian, his work and his powerful commitment to his Armenian heritage and Communism both. In him, they found the perfect vehicle to demonstrate how the Soviet nations outside Russia were equally valued and delivered an equally strong message that matched theirs (unlike Prokofiev and Shostakovich, whose scores frequently contained subversive subtexts which were commentaries on Soviet totalitarianism and the repression of artistic expression). 

Khachaturian came late to composition but remained a committed advocate of Communism throughout his life but succeeded...