Venedikt Pushkov (1895-1971, Russia)

[Christopher]

I recently came across the Russian composer Venedikt Venediktovich Pushkov (1895-1971).  He is extremely low profile but his violin concerto and his opera The Storm ("Groza" in Russian) have been recorded.

I learnt this from this radio link to a Russian radio programme - https://staroeradio.ru/audio/50811 - it contains substantial extracts from each work: 8 minutes of the violin concerto, and 15 minutes of the opera.

Violin Concerto - at 10m45s to 18m33s
The Storm opera - at 19m44s to 33m57s

Both are late-romantic in style, and the violin concerto in particular sounds like an attractive work.

Annoyingly, there is no trace or mention of these recordings anywhere else - not on youtube, vk.com, intoclassics.net (I have posted on their forum to ask), classic-online.ru, not on the Melodiya website, nothing.

So I thought I would post here to ask if anyone knows anything.

There is a Russian wikipedia page on him: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пушков,_Венедикт_Венедиктович:
Venedikt Venediktovich Pushkov ( 1896–1971 ) was a Soviet composer and teacher. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1957).

Born in Saratov on October 19 (31), 1896, into a teacher's family.   

In 1920 he entered the Barnaul Music School [ 3 ] . From 1922 to 1925 he studied at the Saratov Conservatory in the composition class of L. M. Rudolf . In 1929 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in the composition class of V. V. Shcherbachev .

He taught at the 2nd Music College (1926-1929), at the Central Music College (1927-1931), at the workers' faculty of the Leningrad Conservatory (1930-1931), at the Leningrad Conservatory (1935-1938; 1946-1953; 1962-1969; from 1935 - associate professor).

In 1942-1943, Pushkov, while in evacuation, led music theory classes at retraining courses for composers and melodists in Dushanbe .

He died on January 25, 1971 in Leningrad.

Works
Among the major works by V. V. Pushkov are the opera "The Storm" based on A. N. Ostrovsky, and a concerto for violin and orchestra. He also wrote a piano trio, romances, and songs based on poems by classical and Soviet poets. Pushkov is the author of the vocal-symphonic cycle "In the West" and the symphonic suite "Lermontov." The composer also wrote the suite "Masquerade" for symphony orchestra based on his music from the film of the same name.

His contribution to film music is significant. He wrote music for more than 40 films, including such well-known ones as " Peasants " (1935), " Seven Brave Men " (1936), " Golden Taiga " (1937), " Teacher " (1939), " The Fourth Periscope " (1939), " The Defeat of Yudenich " (1940), " The Big Family " (1954), " My Dear Man " (1958), and " Hot July " (1965).

Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1940).
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1957).



The Staroe Radio link above says:
Venedikt Venediktovich Pushkov (October 19 [31], 1896, Saratov – January 25, 1971, Leningrad) – Soviet composer and teacher. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1957). From a family of teachers. He began his music studies in 1920 at the Workers' and Peasants' Conservatory (now the A.K. Glazunov Children's Music School No. 1). In 1922-1925, Venedikt Pushkov studied at the Saratov Conservatory, studying composition with L.M. Rudolf. In 1929, he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, studying composition with V.V. Shcherbachev. In 1926-1929, he taught at the Second State Music Technical School of the Leningrad Regional Department of Public Education. In 1927-1931 he taught at the Central Music College (now the St. Petersburg Music College named after M.P. Mussorgsky), in 1930-1931 he was a teacher at the workers' faculty of the Leningrad Conservatory, in 1935-1938; 1946-1953; 1962-1969 he was a teacher at the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1942-1943, Venedikt Pushkov, while in evacuation, directed music theory classes at retraining courses for composers and melodists in Dushanbe.

[eschiss1]

I think it's standard to just use the Gregorian date (October 31) but I could be wrong...

[Christopher]

Any idea about the question I asked regarding the recordings Eric or did you just want to show everyone that you know there is a Gregorian and a Julian calendar?

[britishcomposer]

Christopher,

Thank you for this. I think this violin concerto has definitely romantic roots but I wouldn't mistake it for a romantic work. There is a typically soviet life-affirming virtuosity and brass-laden pomp about it but it succeeds within it's constraints.

Tobias Broeker is an authority on violin concertos. You can find his catalogue of 20th century violin concertante works here:
https://www.tobias-broeker.de/download-ebook
He lists over 12000 works including the concerto by Pushkov but even he didn't mention a recording.

Listening to the excerpt I notice that this is definitely a historic recording so I wonder why Tobias did not know about it. I think you should contact him. Perhaps he has an idea where to look for it.

[eschiss1]

Christopher, if you want to get snitty, then at least edit your post so that uses the -same consistent birthyear- first. All VIAF libraries give 1896 rather than 1895, for what it's worth.

Several libraries have the violin/piano reduction of the concerto, published in 1969. Don't know when the work was recorded. Many Worldcat entries list films and/or film music recordings of his, yes. (Pushkov's Kon₊t̜sert, dl₊ią skripki s orkestrom, violin/piano 88 page/24 page violin, is available in principle at Arizona State University and at the Russian State Library, perhaps elsewhere.)

A search for Pushkov's violin concerto also keeps turning up Prokofiev worklists, because (1) Prokofiev, of course, composed 2 violin concertos and (2) Pushkov "was charged with the completion" of the score to the 1940s film Lermontov, begun by Prokofiev who withdrew from the project because of "numerous disagreements" with the director.