Alexander Bakshi

Internet Edition compiled by Onno van Rijen

Updated 2 September 2006

Born

In 1952 in Sukhumi (Georgia).

Education

He studied composition at the State Conservatory of Music in Rostov-na-Donu from 1969 until 1977. He graduated in 1977 from the Don Conservatory.

Style

He is the pioneer of a new form of musical experience entitled theatre of sound, in which sounds replace words and actions are directly connected to the musical content.
In his artistic searches he has been investigating the concept of synthesis of theatre and music and developing the new genre that would be similar to opera or ballet, however not based on a literary plot, whereby traditional music forms like concert, sonata, trio etc. are set in a theatre environment and transformed into small performances or dramatic scenes where musicians become characters and are acting in a set-up created by space and sound.

Works

"Drama" for violin, cello and piano (1977)

"Poetic Music Drama" for two sopranos, flute, trumpet, tuba, balalaika, string quartet, piano, organ and percussion (1982)

On texts by Aleksandr Blok and Vladimir Mayakovsky.
"Remembering Georgia", sonata for piano (1983)

"Sonata", vocalise for voice and piano (1989)

"23/6" for six percussionists (1989)

"Sidur-Mysteria" for soprano, synthesizer and eight percussionists (1992)

Text by Vadim Sidur.
CD Long Arms/IMA Press CDLA 00028: Ludmilla Bakshi (soprano), Mark Pekarsky and percussion ensemble
"Games in Installations", vocalise for soprano and six percussionists (1992)

"Winter in Moscow; Ice-covered ground …" for violin, cello and string orchestra (1994)

"Shostakovich Concerto" for violin and string orchestra (1996)

CD Long Arms/IMA Press CDLA 00028: Gidon Kremer (violin), Kremerata Baltica
"He and She" for two violins (1997)

"Hamlet is Dying", concerto for two violins, bass drum and string orchestra (1998)

CD Long Arms/IMA Press CDLA 00028: Gidon Kremer (violin), Tatiana Grindenko (violin), Peter Sadlo (bass drum), Kremerata Baltica, Janis Mednis (double bass solo)
"The Unanswered Call" for violin, 6 or 7 telephones and string orchestra (1999)
CD Deutsche Grammophon 474 801-2: Kremerata Baltica, Gidon Kremer (violin)
"Orpheus" for violin and string orchestra (2001)

"The Polyphony of the World", musical mystery/theatre of sound, vocalise (2001)

Choreography by Svetlana Voskresenskaya.
For tenor, Abakan-region folk voice (and folk instruments), Dakota-Red Indians folk voice (and folk instruments), two Russian folk voices (and folk instruments), Tuva-region folk voice (and folk instruments), actor, two performance artists, shaman, assistant shaman, female dancer, mixed chorus, violin, shell horn (and dung-chen) (Tibetan horn), zurna (and duduk) (Armenian folk instruments), six percussionists, brass ensemble (French horn [and Alphorn], trumpet [and shofar], trombone [and didgeridoo], tuba and string orchestra.
"Orpheus and Euridice", vocalise for tenor, mixed chorus, cello and brass ensemble (French horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba) (2001)

"From The Red Book of Extinction", musical show, vocalise for soprano-dancer, two Russian folk voices, actress and piano (2003)

DVD Solyd Records 2004
And furthermore:
Incidental music for stage productions

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