Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

Firma Melodiya presents a recording of Arif Melikov’s Legend of Love, one of the most outstanding works of Soviet ballet theatre. The Azerbaijani composer, a pupil of Kara Karayev (who, in his turn, studied under Dmitri Shostakovich), synthesized the best achievements of “symphonic ballet” in Russian and Soviet music. Legend of Love (1958–1961) was one of the first large-scale works written by the 28-year-old composer, but it was this ballet that brought him worldwide fame. “The Legend helped me see the world”, he remembered. The ballet was commissioned by the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Opera and Ballet Theatre and created in close collaboration with its co-authors – choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, librettist Nâzım Hikmet, set designer Semyon Virsaladze and conductor Niyazi.

“I was lucky enough to get into the environment of outstanding artists in the very beginning of my career. I dedicated one chord in the overture to each of them”, the composer wrote.

Following a triumphant premiere in 1961 in Leningrad, Legend of Love was produced at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre and then staged at many theatres of the USSR, Europe and the world. The popularity of the ballet based on the Persian legend Khosrow and Shirin about tragic love and self-sacrifice has not waned. The recording was made by the Big Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Central Television of the USSR conducted by young Valery Gergiev in 1988.