November 12, 2008

Bedtime Music: Khachaturian - Adagio From Spartacus

One of the benefits from being involved in the drum corps activity is that it exposes participants and audiences alike to a wide variety of music. A couple years ago I first heard part of the Adagio from Aram Khachaturian's (1903-1978) ballet, Spartak (Spartacus). Khachaturian wrote the ballet in 1954, and it first premiered in 1956.

In this video, pianist Matthew Cameron performs the
Adagio for CUNY-TV, a cable channel operated by the City University of New York.



To me, this is one of the most romantic melodies I've ever heard. And while the song has been played in a number of movies over the years, I must admit I got all excited when I heard the Adagio playing at the end of Ice Age 2, in the scene where Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel, had gone to acorn heaven (the 7:43 mark in the below video). ;)

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