Aram Khachaturian: Spartacus

First sketches for the Spartacus subject were already written in 1940, but completion of the ballet Gayaneh and the world war delayed their continuation. Not until 1952 was work on Spartacus finished, and in 1956 the first performance took place by the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad. It was Khachaturian’s last great work. Soon after the Leningrad première doubts were expressed about the choreography. In 1968, for Moscow, the ballet was completely newly constructed according to plans by Yuri Grigorovich of the Bolshoi Theatre. In this version Spartacus had worldwide success; it also forms the basis for the present recording.