Welcome to my website on 20th century Soviet Composers: composers who LIVED
and COMPOSED in the Soviet era (from 1918).
This does NOT imply that these composers are/were in favour of the Soviet regime.
I shall be glad to receive your comments and suggestions.
At the end of this page recent updates are indicated.
On-line Community on Soviet Composers
- Do you want to exchange information on Soviet Composers
- Do you have questions about these issues
- Are you looking for a specific recording
- Do you want to give your opinion on performances of Soviet compositions
- Or are you just interested in this kind of music
Then join the Soviet Composers Community.
Piano Works "From Russia"
Cameo Classics issued a CD (CC9023CD) titled "From Russia" with Piano Pieces, composed by
Stravinsky, Arensky, Scriabin and Rachmaninov, and performed by Panagiotis Trochopoulos.
The CD begins with Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. In 1921 Igor Stravinsky set about converting three portions of his ballet Petrushka into
a three-movement vehicle for solo piano. Considering that Stravinsky's first sketches for
Petrushka took the form of a piano concerto, it is easy to understand how this work should
have turned out to be such a brilliantly choreographed tour de force for the solo piano.
It was originally commissioned by Arthur Rubinstein in 1910, and only emerged as a ballet
after Diaghilev had pushed Stravinsky to produce the work now so familiar in the theatre.
"Russian Dance" comes from the conclusion of the first tableau, and the composer's sharply
articulated orchestral writing transforms into a most demanding test of dexterity for the
pianist. "Petrushka's Cell" is taken from the second tableau, with "The Shrove-tide Fair",
coming from the conc1usion of the fourth tableau, providing a shimmering keyboard configuration
that may be considered the equal of the orchestral version.
Other Pieces are Scriabin's Two Poems opus 96, Rachmaninov's Preludes opus 23 and Arensky's
Three Pieces opus 42.
Like the young Rachmaninov, Arensky collaborated closely with Pavel Pabst, a fellow Professor
at the Moscow Conservatory. The premiere of Arensky's Piano Concerto was given by Pabst,
who had also edited the piano part for Arensky. In turn, Arensky conducted the premiere
Moscow performance of Pabst's own Piano Concerto, in 1885. His Three Pieces opus 42,
presented here, illustrate just how delightfully Arensky could write for the piano.
Kabalevsky's Works for piano
Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky was born in St. Petersburg on 30th December 1904. Having studied at the Moscow Conservatory
with both Nicolay Myaskovsky and Alexander Goldenweiser, graduating in composition (1929) then piano (1930),
he was appointed a senior lecturer there in 1932 and made a full professor seven years later.
Naxos issued two CDs with works for piano, performed by the Brazilian-born pianist Alexandre Dossin, who was awarded both the First
Prize and the Special Prize at the Martha Argerich Internation Piano Competition in 2003.
The first Naxos CD (8.570822) contains his three Piano Sonatas and two Piano Sonatinas. Abstract instrumental pieces feature
prominently in Kabalevsky's earlier years, with the piano sonatas giving a good (though by
no means inclusive) account of his development over two decades. Not the least of their
attractions is the acuity with which they reflect the spirit of the time without venturing
into overtly radical or inherently reactionary musical territory, and thereby enhancing the
repertoires of pianists from both inside and outside the Soviet Union. Indeed, the last two
sonatas have been championed by such contrasting pianists as Vladimir Horowitz and Benno
Moiseiwitsch.
The First Sonata (1927) is among Kabalevsky's earliest published works, with the influence
of Prokofiev seldom far away. Along with the 24 Preludes immediately preceding it, the Second
Sonata (1945) represents the peak of Kabalevsky's writing for piano. Completed immediately
afterwards, the Third Sonata (1946) could hardly provide a greater contrast.
In addition to the three sonatas, Kabalevsky also wrote two crisply neo-classical sonatinas
that each provide a telling foil to his larger-scale symphonic works from the early 1930s.
The second Naxos CD (8.570976) contains his Four Preludes opus 5, Twenty-Four Preludes opus 38
and Six Preludes and Fugues opus 61.
The set of Four Preludes (1927) is
among Kabalevsky's earliest published works. As with the First Piano Sonota, the influence of
Prokofiev is never far away yet their technical and motivic resource unerringly point towards
what was to come.
Dedicated to his teacher Myaskovsky, the 24 Preludes (1943-1944) immediately predates the
Second Piana Sonata and likewise finds his writing at its most distinctive. The undoubted
modern precedent was that of Shostakovich, which also draws on the Cbopin model in altemating
major and minor keys while following the cycle of fifths.
Kabalevsky additionally derives the melodic material of each prelude from folk-songs, as if
to declare his Russianness in time of war.
Kabalevsky never followed Shostakovieh in essaying preludes and fugues in all the major and
minor keys, though the Six Preludes and Fugues (1958-1959) gives a fair indication of what
might have resulted.
Solomusica issued a CD with concertos for trumpet or
cornet and orchestra in late Romantic and neo-Romantic styles. Most of these concertos are
world premiere recordings of the orchestral versions, so unique for the trumpet-adepts.
Giuliano Sommerhalder performs with the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, directed by Heiko Mathias
Foerster, trumpet and cornet concertos of Vladimir Peskin, Vassily Brandt, Gustav Cords, Carl
Hoehne and Oskar Boehme. One of the most interesting works is Vladimir Peskin’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in C minor.
Vladimir Peskin (1906-1988) grew up in Irkutsk and then in Geneva, where his father, a
revolutionary, had gone into exile until1917.ln Moscow he was a pupil of the legendary
pianist and composer Samuil Feinberg, but an illness affecting his hands forced him to break
off his piano studies. Peskin increasingly turned to composing and wrote songs, piano music
and works for various wind instruments. Wretchedly poor, he occasionally worked for the
balalaika orchestra of the Red Army, as did a young trumpet student who would later become
world-famous: Timofei Dokschitzer, for whom in 1937 Peskin began writing a series of works
of unprecedented virtuosity, among them three concertos. Published in 1948, the first and
longest Concerto in C minor unmistakably and skilfully takes up Rachmaninov's idiom, borrows
from Boehme and Shcholokov and in bar 151 of the opening movement quotes the introductory
motif of Brandt's F minor Concert Piece, which Peskin probably knew from accompanying
Dokschitzer on the piano.
Undoubtedly the other pieces on this disc are interesting works of a romantic virtuosity.
Bortkiewicz CD
Amemptos Music Ltd issued an interesting CD
with piano music of Sergei Bortkiewicz. Lloyd Buck plays these works on Rachmaninov’s piano.
The CD, titled The Forgotton Romantic, contains Bortkiewicz’s Lamentations and Consolations
opus 17, Lyrica Nova opus 59, Preludes Nos. 1 & 3 opus 66 and Piano Sonata No. 2.
This Sonata, dated 1942, is possibly the greatest largely unknown romantic piano sonata ever written.
In C sharp minor and completely different to the first sonata (written in 1909),
it is full of sweeping melodies, passion, expression and romantic gestures.
The first movement opens with a very Russian feel to it and makes an impact straight away.
The music builds towards a rush of descending chromatics in double octaves which gives way
to a much more simple section with lots of imitation between hands. This moves into a piu
allegro which modulates to F minor and involves a passage of mysterious dark rumbling in
the bass. Then another broad melody appears, accompanied again by sweeping arpeggios and
full of chromatic harmony. An allegro section full of dominant sevenths leads to another
rush of double octaves followed by a repeat of the earlier simple section. The music then
builds to a recapitulation of the opening subject and a set of majestic chords conclude the
movement.
The second movement is a form of caprice, with a trio section in the middle. Its opening theme
is later decorated and accompanied by arpeggios, before its development concludes the first
section. The trio is a rather light-hearted moment, but this gives way to a piu vivace in
which the light hand has a devilish feel to it. The trio ends with a melody rising above a
pedal point before it tumbles down the keyboard for the da capo.
The third movement is really in D flat major, though curiously the first seven bars and
the last eight are written in C sharp major. Another wonderful, languorous melody is found
here, with rich accompaniment, before an unexpected section marked religioso, which is almost
a chorale with a recitative thrown in for good measure. A repeat of the opening section
concludes the movement.
The fourth movement is almost over before it has started. It has an extremely agitated
feel with its syncopated melody which builds itself up until stopped by a section of
chordal melody and harmony. The agitated theme soon makes its return, until it is shattered
by a finale of blazing glory in C sharp major. Again containing the typical cycle of
suspensions, one perhaps feels that this is where Bortkiewicz would have made it had he
ever got to Hollywood! A big romantic allargando and final chord sequence concludes this
Sonata.
Information on Shostakovich
Undeniable Dmitri Shostakovich is the greatest Soviet composer.
Here you can find a complete Shostakovich' opus list.
You can check by opusnumber and by opusname.
The lists offer links to CD-recordings. So you can see all Shostakovich works which have been released in CD-format.
Many of these CDs are linked to reviews of these CDs.
After issuing CDs with recordings of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6 (PTC 5186 068, Symphony No. 11 (PTC 5186 076),
No. 8 (PTC 5186 084) and Nos. 5 & 9 (PTC 5186 096) Pentatone Music
released a CD with recordings of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 and fragments of the Hamlet Suite opus 32 (PTC 5186 331),
performed by the Russian National Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Pletnev.
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 is a symphony of quotes. Quotes from both his own works and those of others appear during the course of the movement like flashes of light, even so, they are more or less truly integrated into the music. Yet the quotes (especially those from works by Beethoven, Rossini and Wagner) do not offer the listener true clarity: rather, they present him with new puzzles as they are ripped out of their own context, and are now forced to find a "home" in more or less foreign climes. The humorous entrance of the first movement reminds one of numerous earlier works by Shostakovich, full of esprit and wit. Just take, for instance, the Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings, or the outer movements of the Symphony No. 9. Nevertheless, the music quickly becomes increasingly enigmatic: after the almost timid introductory flute theme and fanfare-like motifs, all of a sudden a quote from Rossini's William Tell overture crashes in out of the blue.
In the second movement a solemn chorale played by the winds paves the way, until it is relieved by an expansive cello solo presenting a twelve-tone series. A funeral march starts up, which is steadily and tenaciously driven by the brass and kettledrums to a tremendous climax, until the chorale, this time in the strings, determines the remainder of the movement.
The extremely short third movement, which follows on attacca, is an eerie medley of tunes, during the course of which a violin solo - representing the"grim reaper" - plays macabre dance music. This is a Mahler-like danse macabre in potential, containing the composer's musical monogram, the notes D - E flat - C - B, and other quote-like references to his own fourth and tenth symphonies.
Finally, the Finale begins in a significant mannerwith precise quotes from Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen and Tristan und Isolde, before Shostakovich presents a song theme of bewitching beauty. A passacaglia comes to the fore, reminding one of the invasion theme from his Leningrad Symphony, slowly intensifies into a veritable hurricane, and culminates, following a violently crashing chord, in a complete breakdown. The music falls to pieces, disintegrates; thematic shreds wander disoriented through an apocalyptic landscape. Finally, the percussion rattles like a musical skeleton above a pedal point with an open fifth.
The Symphony No. 15 is accompanied by an early work of Shostakovich's, a selection from the incidental music written for Hamlet. In 1932, Shostakovich composed some music with theatrical effects for a production of Hamlet by Nikolai Akimov, who nonetheless managed to "cure" the subject matter of any dramatic potential. In fact, in his version the drama turned somewhat into a farce. The director had developed a second story around the original plot, with a hard-drinking eponymous hero. And thus Shostakovich's incidental music includes titles that are not suited to the classical storyline of Hamlet. Mikhail Pletnev made an individual selection for this recording. Thus No.2 (Funeral march), No. 5 (Pantomime of the actors), No. 6 (Procession), No. 8 (Feast), No. 9 (Ophelia's song), and No. 12 (Tournament) are missing from the Suite (1932).ln exchange, the "Dinner Music'; the "Monologue of the Claudius'; as well as the "Signals of Fortinbras" have been added from the incidental music, as weil as the "Gigue'; which is taken from other stage music written in 1954.
Channel Classics issued a CD (CCS SA 26007)
with arrangements of Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos. 2 & 4 for
string orchestra. Double bass player Marijn van Prooijen arranged both string quartets.
Amsterdam Sinfonietta plays these fine works in an amazing performance.
Amsterdam Sinfonietta occupies a unique position on the Dutch music scene as the only professional string orchestra in the Netherlands.
It is regularly invited to perform in concert halls throughout the world as one of the very few
largescale string ensembles on the international scene. The ensemble consists of 22 chamber
musicians; all string players (six first violins, six seconds, four violas, four cellos, two
basses). Its repertoire covers a variety of styles, extending from the Baroque repertoire to
contemporary works. The main focus lies on string ensemble repertoire, including chamber music
performed in string orchestra format.
On 2 September 1944, Shostakovich wrote the last note of his String Quartet No. 2 in a
country house near Ivanovo. Two months later, the Beethoven-quartet played the première.
The second string quartet was created after the famous second piano trio and was written at
a terrific pace. Shostakovich dedicated this work to his good friend Vissarion Shebalin,
the director of the Moscow Conservatory at that time. The piece opens with an energetic
Ouverture that in its form and counterpoint has been entirely fashioned after the
forementioned classic examples. This quartet is primarily exceptional because of the
longest and slow movement of the piece. This second movement consists of a Romance enclosed
by two recitatives. These long and grievous episodes of the solo violin in recitative form
are accompanied by static, low chords. One can directly associate this movement with
sacred music, in which the recitative technique is so common. In the Waltz, a soft legato
theme develops, first in the celli and later in the violins, over a waltz pattern
to a turbulent percussion part full of changes of pace. The movement concludes in pianissimo
with the return to a clear three-four time in which the altos 'turn oft the light'.
The last movement, Theme with variations, starts from an adagio.
Per variation, both the tempo and the drama increase. The theme ultimately simmers down
in an adagio in E flat.
In 1949 Shostakovich finished his String Quartet No. 4, although the premiere of this piece
was not heard until 1953. In the years after the war the government got increasingly
involved in the cultural world. The Central Committee published a resolution in which clear
guidelines for modern art were formulated. As a result of this, the composers union of Moscow
organized a conference. At this gathering, Shostakovich was forced to read a speech in which
he distanced himself from his oeuvre. Khrennikov, the new chairman of the composers' union
branded Shostakovich as a 'formalist' and a 'cosmopolitan'. Shortly afterwards, Shostakovich
even had to discontinue his work at the Conservatories of Moscow and Leningrad.
Shostakovich withdrew from muscial life. Besides film music he wrote a song cycle, From
Jewish folk poetry and his fourth string quartet.
The fourth quartet has a melancholic and sober character. Throughout the entire opening movement
a pedal tone is audible, with above it strikingly varying fifths and fourths, resulting in the
movement's serene atmosphere. In the next movement, a warm and melodic theme dominates in the
first violin part. At the end of this movement, the first violin joins the other parts in a
number of still choral episodes that, meandering, dissolve into nothingness. Only in the
Allegretto and the final movement following without a pause, the Jewish character of the string
quartet truly manifests itself. The scale material and the rhythmic accents bare witness to
that. In this dramatic movement, the quartet reaches the highest degree of dissonance.
The movement concludes with a soft choral and pizzicati that end in the key of D major.
Onyx issued a very interesting CD with three works of Dmitri Shostakovich, performed by five top-musicians (Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky and Itamar Golan),
live recorded from the well-known Musikverein in Vienna.
The three works are Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor opus 8, his Piano Quintet in G minor opus 57 and
Five Pieces for two violins and piano in an arrangement by Lev Atovmian.
Shostakovich began to compose his First Piano Trio in August 1923 in the Crimea, where he was convalescing, and completed it soon afterwards in Petrograd.
The Trio is a compact work in a single movement, but containing a wide variety of tempos and musical characters in its well-crafted span.
The stimulus to write his Piano Quintet came to Shostakovich from the musicians of the Beethoven String Quartet,
who had asked him for a work which they could all play together. The work is scored very economically;
the full quintet is rarely employed (apart from in the frantic Scherzo) and the wide range of instrumental effects includes
such expedients as frequently having the piano play at the very top or very bottom of its register, making a musical virtue of its notorious inability to blend well with stringed instruments.
The source of the opening romantic Prelude of the Five Pieces for two violins and piano is Guitars, No. 15 from Shostakovich original film score for The Gadfly.
A lively Gavotte follows, this time from the incidental music to The Human Comedy. The lilting Elegy is The Panorama of Paris theme from The Human Comedy.
The Waltz appears in many Atovmian arrangements but the Shostakovich score remains elusive. The final movement, a gypsy-style Polka, does come from
the ballet The Limpid Stream, entitled Dance of the Milkmaid and the Tractor Driver.
Recently Doremi Records issued the complete cycle of
Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartets performed by the legendary Beethoven Quartet.
Of these quartets, all but the first and last were premiered by the Beethoven String Quartet. The original
members were Dmitri
Tsyganov and Vassily Shirinsky (violin), Sergei Shirinsky (cello) and Vadim Borisovsky (viola). They have been
together as a quartet for 42 years. Shostakovich held this quartet in the highest esteem. Their interpretations were
authorized by Shostakovich. Their association started in 1938 when the Beethoven Quartet gave the Moscow premiere of the first String Quartet.
In the recordings presented by Doremi (DHR-7911-5), the first eight quartets are played by the original founding members. In the Quartes Nos. 9
and 10 Fedor Druzhinin is the violist, and from the 11th Nikolai Zabavnikov is the second violist. Quartet No. 15 has as its cellist Yevgeny Altman.
The playing of the Beethoven Quartet in these recordings is an example of chamber music making at its absolute best. The performances are
gutsy, lyrical or tubulent in turn, as demanded by the score. These performances truly speak and only two other ensembles approach them in this
repertoire, the Taneyev Quartet and the original Borodin Quartet.
If you are interested to see pictures of Dmitri Shostakovich and many other famous persons
then please check my DSCH-Gallery.
New Boris Tchaikovsky 2CD set
Many people - me included - have waited many years for a recording of Boris Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 2.
Now it is available, and - even better - combined with the other 5 String Quartets of this composer.
This double CD-set has been issued by Northern Flowers
(NF/PMA 9964/9965). It is a brand new recording: April 2008, recorded at the St. Catherine Lutheran Church of St. Peterburg.
The performers are Ilya Ioff and Elena Raskova (violin), Lydia Kovalenko (viola) and Alexey Massarsky (cello).
The string quartets were composed by Boris Tchaikovsky in 1954 (No. 1), 1961 (No. 2), 1967 (No. 3),
1972 (No. 4), 1974 (no. 5) and 1976 (No. 6). So he addressed the genre of string quartet for over three decades,
starting from his pre-Conservatory school years till 1976 when he finished his Sixth Quartet. The quartets may be considered
classics of the quartet genre in the 20th century. Boris Tchaikovsky never repeats himself in his creative solutions.
Each of the quartets is unique - as an image, as a reflection, as an artistic concept, as a structure,
and each one is a quite special step in understanding the genre.
Glazunov's String Quartets
The Utrecht String Quartet recorded 3 CDs with works for string quartet, composed by Alexander Glazunov.
In 2008 the third volume has been released by
Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm. Volume No. 1 (MDG 603 1236-2) gives performances of Glazunov's String Quartets Nos. 3 and 5.
The first movement of the Third quartet "Slavic Quartet" was originally conceived as a self-contained piece called "Chetverka",
an allusion to the Thursday quartet evenings in the Glazunov household. When three subsequent
movements, clearly written separately, "assembled themselves" into a cyclic unity, the composer felt the need for a proper first movement;
that was when he had the idea of using "Chetverka" for the purpose. The quartet is dedicated to Nikolai Artsybushev, a Russian composer and
musician beloning to the Belyayev circle.
Glazunov's Fifth Quartet is marked by unusual melodic richness, beauty and thematic expressiveness. Glazunov dedicated this quartet to Leopold Auer.
Volume 2 (MDG 603 1237-2) brings Glazunov's String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4 and his Elegy for strings opus 105.
The Second Quartet is dedicated to Mitrofan Belyayev and was presented to him on his name-day, November 23, 1884. At a festive lunch that day,
held every year to mark the date, Belyayev's quartet received its first performance in a domestic concert; Belyayev himself played
the viola part. In the character of its musical themes, the manner of its layout and its compositional technique,
the Second Quartet resembles the First Quartet, composed two years earlier.
The Fourth Quartet, dedicated to the prominent Russian musical and artistic critic Vladimir Stasov, is one of the
pinnacles in Glazunov's chamber-instrumental oeuvre. The quartet is marked by a drama unusual in the early chamber works of Glazunov. Epic
narrative gives way to deeply felt lyric-dramatic declamation..
Volume 3 (MDG 603 1238-2), issued in 2008, contains
Glazunov's Suite for string quartet opus 35 and his String Quintet opus 39.
In the Suite, Glazunov for the first time deliberately departed from the dominance of Slavonic themes,
without giving them up completely. It rather seems as if the twenty-two-year-old was trying out
different compositional forms ranging from the serious fugue to various forms of the waltz.
Perhaps the work was also intended as a series of miniature studies of an animated social gathering.
The String Quintet in A major opus 39 uses two cellos instead of a second viola. This work is extermely likeable,
displaying compositional agility at the expense of profundity.
The attractive work half-hour work was one of the works Glazunov composed for Belyayev's private soirees.
Grechaninov's String Quartets
Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm has issued two CDs with String Quartets by Alexander Grechaninov, performed by the Utrecht String Quartet
as well. The first volume (MDG 603 1157-2) includes his
String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. In the spring of 1894 Grechaninov sent the score of his
String Quartet in G major opus 2 to the Belyayev contest. He denoted it by the word "Vera", the name of his wife. He won a prize for this quartet.
It is similar to his first symphony in that one's attention is drawn to its distinct narrative approach, an approach that calls forth
associations with the epic images of Borodin and Glazunov.
The Second Quartet in G minor opus 70 won a prize at the competition held by the St. Petersburg Society of Chamber Music
and yields for an absolutely different impression. The main difference was the composer's
mature command of form and a variety of development devices (largely polyphonic),
that enabled him to much more fully reveal the character and concealed potential of his musical themes.
The second volume (MDG 603 1388-2) includes his
String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4.
Grechaninov's Third Quartet in C major opus 75 displays similar tendencies in harmony and
counterpoint as his String Quartet No. 2. But it is even more noteworthy that the composer is striving for
complexity and perfection of form - both of the whole and of its component parts.
The Fourth String Quartet in F major opus 124 flowed from the pen of the 65-year-old composer as an instrumental "song of praise" to
life and fate.
Babadjanian & Ustvolskaya
Veronika Iltchenko is a young pianist who attracted the attention with her interpretation of
works of romantic composers such as Mussorgsky, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Brahms et
Rachmaninov and of 20th century composers such as Debussy, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Feldman,
Ustvolskaya and Badadjanian.
In January 2008 a new CD of Veronika Iltchenko has been released
on EMS, with Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Arno Babadjanian's Prelude, Vagarshapat Dance, Ex
Promptu & Six Pictures and Galina Ustvolskaya's Piano Sonata No. 5 In ten movements.
Rare Shostakovich LP's
I'm offering a part of my Shostakovich collection. Here is a list of recordings available.
Operas The Nose, Laby Macbeth of Mtsensk and
Katerina Ismailova, all symphonies in various performances,
chamber music, piano music, vocal music and ballet, film and incidental music, and
Vol I No. 4: Suites of Collected Works on Records.
Information on Boris Tchaikovsky
Relief issued in collaboration with the public non-profit organization, the
Boris Tchaikovsky Society the CD "Modern Russian Music for Winds" (Relief CR 991091):
A Tribute to Boris Tchaikovsky. On this CD three works of Boris Tchaikovsky: his Sextet, his Passacaglia and Fugue and the Suite "Anyuatu" for winds.
Furthermore recordings of works by
Klimov, Prokudin, Vershinin, Prassolova, Golovin and Prischepa. Anyone familiar with the orchestral music of Boris Tchaikovsky (1925-1996)
can't help but notice his bright, fresh and expressive use of wind instruments.
Just think of the solo flute in Sebastopol Symphony; the charged, trumpet-like French homs
in the Piano Concerto; the cold glint of the flutes and clarinets in “The Wind of Siberia”;
or even whole movements of his compositions performed just by the wind section.
The Sextet for Winds and Harp was completed in 1990. Along with the Symphony with Harp,
written in 1993, the Sextet comprises the core of the composer's latest works.
It is symbolic that these two pieces complete his path as a composer.
The Sextet is filled with that mysterious, enlightened contemplation characteristic to
many “late” compositions of famous composers. The music of the Sextet is full of light,
not with the blinding noonday sun of Sebastopol Symphony, but with the soft rays of a
setting sun in autumn.
The exact completion date for Passacaglia and Fugue for Octet (comprised of flute, oboe,
c1arinet, French hom, violin, viola, cello, and double bass) is unknown. The manuscript
of this composition was discovered in the composer's archives after his death.
It is thought to have been written during the early years of his studies at the Moscow
Conservatory. The music of the Octet reveals the influence of Shostakovich, one of
Tchaikovsky's professors at the conservatory. Nonetheless, much of it also reflects
the young composer's own, more philosophical and introspective world view. This is reflected,
for example, in the detached, mysterious finale of the Passacaglia, and in the Fugue's first
theme, the charged intonation paradoxically compliments its almost flippant mood, the same
mood that often displays the deeply personal revelations seen in Tchaikovsky's later works.
In 1959-1960, Boris Tchaikovsky wrote the score to the short film “Anyuta”
(based on the short story of the same name written by A. Chekhov), directed by M. Anjaparidze.
Afterwards Tchaikovsky spoke positively of his own work, and this led the Boris Tchaikovsky
Society to begin searching through the archives of the Orchestra of Cinematography.
Luckily, the score, intended for its original performers
(2 flutes, c1arinet, bass-c1arinet, cello and piano), had not been lost, and was worthy
of the composer's own esteem.
Northern Flowers issued in collaboration with the public non-profit organization, the
Boris Tchaikovsky Society a CD (NF/PMA 9946) with Boris Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, composed in 1969, performed by Victor Pikaizen and the
Odense Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Serov.
This Violin Concerto was dedicated to Viktor Pikaizen whose creative and personal relations with the composer started as early as in the 1950s, during his work at the Piano Trio.
In the Violin Concerto Boris Tchaikovsky wanted to convey the life of his father Alexander Martynovich Tchaikovsky, whom he loved very much and whom he lost too early (he was only 15 when his father died).
The Concerto's large one-movement composition is built without a traditional outward contrast. It is a state-of-mind concerto, bewitching the listeners and never letting them go from the first to the last sounds. The theme origination
and development processes are the core of the opus. Boris Tchaikovsky commented on the form of this opus: "The main theme is followed by a 'heap' of secondary themes, and that's about the form by and large. For some time, quite a long time, repetition is
not used in it as a matter of concept. But later, nearer to the end, everything begins to be repeated in another fashion ....".
CDs: Works of Soviet Composers
December 16, 2007 Rodion Shchedrin was born in Moscow. This 75th birthyear of
Rodion Shchedrin made
the German publisher Schott to issue a wonderful book on this composer who is one of the most
important composers of these days.
In 168 pages this book in hardcover gives a good look of the broad range of works composed by Shchedrin:
operas, ballets, film music, instrumental music, piano music and vocal music. The book contains many photographs and fragments of scores from events in the life of Shchedrin.
Comments of collegue-composers and friends show the personality of this composer. The book contains an opus list. It is translated from Russian into the German language. Because of the
huge amount of photographs and fragments of scores this book is interesting for those who have problems with reading German.
The saxophone was viewed as a 'suspicious' instrument in the former Soviet Union. The reason being that it belonged to the bourgeoisie and was associated with decadent jazz music. So serious composers did not write serious music for this instrument.
This changed in the nineteen sixtees and seventies, due to a group of young composers in Moscow. Among them Dmitri Smirnov,
Vladislav Shoot, Nikolai Korndorf and Faraj Karaev. The CD "The Soviet Saxophone" contains works of these composers for saxophone and piano: Dmitri Smirnov: Ballade opus 35 Dmitri Smirnov: Twelve Melancholic Waltzes opus 43B
Vladislav Shoot: Miniature Partita Faraj Karaev: Alla Valse Nikolai Korndorf: Monologue and Ostinato Sergei Prokofiev: Flute Sonata No. 2, transcribed for saxophone and piano
Performers are Filip Davidse (saxophone) and Naomi Tamura (piano).
The Compozitor Publishing House, St Petersburg issued a double-CD with the Piano Sonatas 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 of Boris Tishchenko, performed by
the pianist Vladimir Polyakov. Boris Tishenko has the command of original and utterly individual stylistic features marking his links with absolutely different cultural traditions.
On the first hand, this is the music of the far ages - Renaissance and Baroque, evoking the linear-polyphonic logic - the base of Tishchenko's musical construction. This exact particularity makes for the stern rational element and strict
order with nothing over-indulgent, when the author's fantasy reveals in full swing. Piano Sonatas are the special sphere in Boris Tishchenko's creation.
They may be truly called symphonies for piano. The author seems to crush all the existing bounds of traditions and rules, resorting to the maximum dynamical range, combining transparent
monody and deafening clusters. Emotional square is broad here, evoking images of the old Russian frescoes, romantic expression and lyrical tenderness.
Fuga Libera issued a CD (FUG 702) with Boris Tishchenko's Concerto for violin, piano and string orchestra opus 144 and his Dante-Symphony No. 3
"Hell: Circles 7-9" opus 123 No. 4.
Tishchenko composed his Double Concerto for violin and piano with string orchestra as a tribute and birtday gift to his friend Jakov Evgenevich Ioffe. The concerto is structured on
two different levels. The first is a level of a comprehensive symphonic dramaturgy with a significant volume of sound space. The second is a chamber ensemble level which demands a particular precision in texture balance and polyphonic logic.
Tishchenko has managed to incorporate, within a cyclical structure, several layers of execution within one work. The soloists have been given parts that are both arduous and technically interesting, allowing them to flaunt the ambit of
their skills. In this Double Concerto Tishchenko emphatically shows his faith in Bach's formula: Music is a dialogue of the Soul with God (which he always repeats to his students. The performers of this Double Concerto are Victoria Postnikova (piano),
Alexander Rozhdestvensky (violin), and the String Orchestra of St. Petersburg, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
Tishchenko started his choral-symphonic cycle, consisting of five Dante-symphonies at the end of the 1990-ies. This macro-cycle includes separate works, each of which corresponds to a particular part of Dante's Divina Comedia.
Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducts the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.
A CDR with all ten symphonies of Sergei Slonimsky has been issued by The Compozitor Publishing House, St Petersburg.
In these symphonies Slonimsky make the whole European music history stand revived before us.
As the composer skilfully uses the device of musical hint, the listener is given the chance to come in touch with the countless treasures of both the Western
and Russian music, represented as either visible, or just absorbed substances, i.e. rhythmical and melodic formulas, genres and peculiar harmony fluctuations.
The composer als penetrates into the modern popular cultural stratum.
Slonimsky resorts to the serious and light genres for to show the contemporary intensity, its forceful currents.
The combat between two antagonistic realities, where the intrinsic thoughts and emotions are revealed instantaneously by the impress left upon them,
while the other sphere is stained in the false affected tones, borrowed somewhere at the pop music.
When you are interested in Soviet Composers then please check out the Soviet Composer's Page. You will find information on
important composers for instance Andrei Eshpai, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Aram Khachaturian, Nikolai Miaskovsky,
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, Alfred Schnittke, Rodion Shchedrin, Boris Tchaikovsky, Boris Tishchenko and many others.
Catalogues as well as discographies.
If you can't find the Soviet Composer you are interested in then please let me know. I'll try to find some principal data on the
Soviet Composer you are interested in and publish these data.
If you have information on Soviet Composers not appearing on this site then please send this information to me by e-mail.
David Fanning wrote a fine essay on the Soviet Symphony on CD.
Here you find information on the composers and the works awarded with the Stalin Prize.
More fine CDs
Interested in more special CDs with performances of works by Shostakovich and other Soviet
composers then please check the special CDs pages on:
Many of your questions concern the availability of scores and CDs, WWW-addresses of companies releasing CDs with works of Soviet Composers,
the anthem of the former Soviet Union, etc. If you have questions please check some answers first.
Want List and Offers
I am looking for some recordings and books on these composers. If there is a chance that you can help me to find one of
these then please check out my want list.
On-line Community on Soviet Composers 
The CD begins with Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. In 1921 Igor Stravinsky set about converting three portions of his ballet Petrushka into
a three-movement vehicle for solo piano. Considering that Stravinsky's first sketches for
Petrushka took the form of a piano concerto, it is easy to understand how this work should
have turned out to be such a brilliantly choreographed tour de force for the solo piano.
It was originally commissioned by Arthur Rubinstein in 1910, and only emerged as a ballet
after Diaghilev had pushed Stravinsky to produce the work now so familiar in the theatre.
"Russian Dance" comes from the conclusion of the first tableau, and the composer's sharply
articulated orchestral writing transforms into a most demanding test of dexterity for the
pianist. "Petrushka's Cell" is taken from the second tableau, with "The Shrove-tide Fair",
coming from the conc1usion of the fourth tableau, providing a shimmering keyboard configuration
that may be considered the equal of the orchestral version.
Abstract instrumental pieces feature
prominently in Kabalevsky's earlier years, with the piano sonatas giving a good (though by
no means inclusive) account of his development over two decades. Not the least of their
attractions is the acuity with which they reflect the spirit of the time without venturing
into overtly radical or inherently reactionary musical territory, and thereby enhancing the
repertoires of pianists from both inside and outside the Soviet Union. Indeed, the last two
sonatas have been championed by such contrasting pianists as Vladimir Horowitz and Benno
Moiseiwitsch.
The set of Four Preludes (1927) is
among Kabalevsky's earliest published works. As with the First Piano Sonota, the influence of
Prokofiev is never far away yet their technical and motivic resource unerringly point towards
what was to come.
One of the most interesting works is Vladimir Peskin’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in C minor.
Vladimir Peskin (1906-1988) grew up in Irkutsk and then in Geneva, where his father, a
revolutionary, had gone into exile until1917.ln Moscow he was a pupil of the legendary
pianist and composer Samuil Feinberg, but an illness affecting his hands forced him to break
off his piano studies. Peskin increasingly turned to composing and wrote songs, piano music
and works for various wind instruments. Wretchedly poor, he occasionally worked for the
balalaika orchestra of the Red Army, as did a young trumpet student who would later become
world-famous: Timofei Dokschitzer, for whom in 1937 Peskin began writing a series of works
of unprecedented virtuosity, among them three concertos. Published in 1948, the first and
longest Concerto in C minor unmistakably and skilfully takes up Rachmaninov's idiom, borrows
from Boehme and Shcholokov and in bar 151 of the opening movement quotes the introductory
motif of Brandt's F minor Concert Piece, which Peskin probably knew from accompanying
Dokschitzer on the piano.
The first movement opens with a very Russian feel to it and makes an impact straight away.
The music builds towards a rush of descending chromatics in double octaves which gives way
to a much more simple section with lots of imitation between hands. This moves into a piu
allegro which modulates to F minor and involves a passage of mysterious dark rumbling in
the bass. Then another broad melody appears, accompanied again by sweeping arpeggios and
full of chromatic harmony. An allegro section full of dominant sevenths leads to another
rush of double octaves followed by a repeat of the earlier simple section. The music then
builds to a recapitulation of the opening subject and a set of majestic chords conclude the
movement.
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 is a symphony of quotes. Quotes from both his own works and those of others appear during the course of the movement like flashes of light, even so, they are more or less truly integrated into the music. Yet the quotes (especially those from works by Beethoven, Rossini and Wagner) do not offer the listener true clarity: rather, they present him with new puzzles as they are ripped out of their own context, and are now forced to find a "home" in more or less foreign climes. The humorous entrance of the first movement reminds one of numerous earlier works by Shostakovich, full of esprit and wit. Just take, for instance, the Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings, or the outer movements of the Symphony No. 9. Nevertheless, the music quickly becomes increasingly enigmatic: after the almost timid introductory flute theme and fanfare-like motifs, all of a sudden a quote from Rossini's William Tell overture crashes in out of the blue.
On 2 September 1944, Shostakovich wrote the last note of his String Quartet No. 2 in a
country house near Ivanovo. Two months later, the Beethoven-quartet played the première.
The second string quartet was created after the famous second piano trio and was written at
a terrific pace. Shostakovich dedicated this work to his good friend Vissarion Shebalin,
the director of the Moscow Conservatory at that time. The piece opens with an energetic
Ouverture that in its form and counterpoint has been entirely fashioned after the
forementioned classic examples. This quartet is primarily exceptional because of the
longest and slow movement of the piece. This second movement consists of a Romance enclosed
by two recitatives. These long and grievous episodes of the solo violin in recitative form
are accompanied by static, low chords. One can directly associate this movement with
sacred music, in which the recitative technique is so common. In the Waltz, a soft legato
theme develops, first in the celli and later in the violins, over a waltz pattern
to a turbulent percussion part full of changes of pace. The movement concludes in pianissimo
with the return to a clear three-four time in which the altos 'turn oft the light'.
The last movement, Theme with variations, starts from an adagio.
Per variation, both the tempo and the drama increase. The theme ultimately simmers down
in an adagio in E flat.
The three works are Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor opus 8, his Piano Quintet in G minor opus 57 and
Five Pieces for two violins and piano in an arrangement by Lev Atovmian.
Tsyganov and Vassily Shirinsky (violin), Sergei Shirinsky (cello) and Vadim Borisovsky (viola). They have been
together as a quartet for 42 years. Shostakovich held this quartet in the highest esteem. Their interpretations were
authorized by Shostakovich. Their association started in 1938 when the Beethoven Quartet gave the Moscow premiere of the first String Quartet.
In the recordings presented by Doremi (DHR-7911-5), the first eight quartets are played by the original founding members. In the Quartes Nos. 9
and 10 Fedor Druzhinin is the violist, and from the 11th Nikolai Zabavnikov is the second violist. Quartet No. 15 has as its cellist Yevgeny Altman.
The playing of the Beethoven Quartet in these recordings is an example of chamber music making at its absolute best. The performances are
gutsy, lyrical or tubulent in turn, as demanded by the score. These performances truly speak and only two other ensembles approach them in this
repertoire, the Taneyev Quartet and the original Borodin Quartet.
This double CD-set has been issued by 
Volume No. 1 (MDG 603 1236-2) gives performances of Glazunov's String Quartets Nos. 3 and 5.
The first movement of the Third quartet "Slavic Quartet" was originally conceived as a self-contained piece called "Chetverka",
an allusion to the Thursday quartet evenings in the Glazunov household. When three subsequent
movements, clearly written separately, "assembled themselves" into a cyclic unity, the composer felt the need for a proper first movement;
that was when he had the idea of using "Chetverka" for the purpose. The quartet is dedicated to Nikolai Artsybushev, a Russian composer and
musician beloning to the Belyayev circle.
Volume 2 (MDG 603 1237-2) brings Glazunov's String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4 and his Elegy for strings opus 105.
The Second Quartet is dedicated to Mitrofan Belyayev and was presented to him on his name-day, November 23, 1884. At a festive lunch that day,
held every year to mark the date, Belyayev's quartet received its first performance in a domestic concert; Belyayev himself played
the viola part. In the character of its musical themes, the manner of its layout and its compositional technique,
the Second Quartet resembles the First Quartet, composed two years earlier.
Volume 3 (MDG 603 1238-2), issued in 2008, contains
Glazunov's Suite for string quartet opus 35 and his String Quintet opus 39.
The first volume (MDG 603 1157-2) includes his
String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. In the spring of 1894 Grechaninov sent the score of his
String Quartet in G major opus 2 to the Belyayev contest. He denoted it by the word "Vera", the name of his wife. He won a prize for this quartet.
It is similar to his first symphony in that one's attention is drawn to its distinct narrative approach, an approach that calls forth
associations with the epic images of Borodin and Glazunov.
The second volume (MDG 603 1388-2) includes his
String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4.
Operas The Nose, Laby Macbeth of Mtsensk and
Katerina Ismailova, all symphonies in various performances,
chamber music, piano music, vocal music and ballet, film and incidental music, and
Vol I No. 4: Suites of 
Anyone familiar with the orchestral music of Boris Tchaikovsky (1925-1996)
can't help but notice his bright, fresh and expressive use of wind instruments.
Just think of the solo flute in Sebastopol Symphony; the charged, trumpet-like French homs
in the Piano Concerto; the cold glint of the flutes and clarinets in “The Wind of Siberia”;
or even whole movements of his compositions performed just by the wind section.
The Sextet for Winds and Harp was completed in 1990. Along with the Symphony with Harp,
written in 1993, the Sextet comprises the core of the composer's latest works.
It is symbolic that these two pieces complete his path as a composer.
The Sextet is filled with that mysterious, enlightened contemplation characteristic to
many “late” compositions of famous composers. The music of the Sextet is full of light,
not with the blinding noonday sun of Sebastopol Symphony, but with the soft rays of a
setting sun in autumn.
This Violin Concerto was dedicated to Viktor Pikaizen whose creative and personal relations with the composer started as early as in the 1950s, during his work at the Piano Trio.
In the Violin Concerto 
December 16, 2007 
This changed in the nineteen sixtees and seventies, due to a group of young composers in Moscow. Among them Dmitri Smirnov,
Vladislav Shoot, Nikolai Korndorf and Faraj Karaev. The CD "The Soviet Saxophone" contains works of these composers for saxophone and piano:
Boris Tishenko has the command of original and utterly individual stylistic features marking his links with absolutely different cultural traditions.
On the first hand, this is the music of the far ages - Renaissance and Baroque, evoking the linear-polyphonic logic - the base of Tishchenko's musical construction. This exact particularity makes for the stern rational element and strict
order with nothing over-indulgent, when the author's fantasy reveals in full swing. Piano Sonatas are the special sphere in Boris Tishchenko's creation.
They may be truly called symphonies for piano. The author seems to crush all the existing bounds of traditions and rules, resorting to the maximum dynamical range, combining transparent
monody and deafening clusters. Emotional square is broad here, evoking images of the old Russian frescoes, romantic expression and lyrical tenderness.
Tishchenko composed his Double Concerto for violin and piano with string orchestra as a tribute and birtday gift to his friend Jakov Evgenevich Ioffe. The concerto is structured on
two different levels. The first is a level of a comprehensive symphonic dramaturgy with a significant volume of sound space. The second is a chamber ensemble level which demands a particular precision in texture balance and polyphonic logic.
Tishchenko has managed to incorporate, within a cyclical structure, several layers of execution within one work. The soloists have been given parts that are both arduous and technically interesting, allowing them to flaunt the ambit of
their skills. In this Double Concerto Tishchenko emphatically shows his faith in Bach's formula: Music is a dialogue of the Soul with God (which he always repeats to his students. The performers of this Double Concerto are Victoria Postnikova (piano),
Alexander Rozhdestvensky (violin), and the String Orchestra of St. Petersburg, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
In these symphonies Slonimsky make the whole European music history stand revived before us.
As the composer skilfully uses the device of musical hint, the listener is given the chance to come in touch with the countless treasures of both the Western
and Russian music, represented as either visible, or just absorbed substances, i.e. rhythmical and melodic formulas, genres and peculiar harmony fluctuations.
The composer als penetrates into the modern popular cultural stratum.
Slonimsky resorts to the serious and light genres for to show the contemporary intensity, its forceful currents.
The combat between two antagonistic realities, where the intrinsic thoughts and emotions are revealed instantaneously by the impress left upon them,
while the other sphere is stained in the false affected tones, borrowed somewhere at the pop music.