20th century unsung soviet period composers

[imirizaldu]

Hi, i ve recently  "discovered" a wealth of "unsung" composers from the former USSR, through the Wartime Music series by the Northern Flowers label, and  although most of them are not up there with  guys like Prokofiev or Shostakovich in my opinon (nevertheless, worth checking), i think there are some who really should be getting much more recognition (specially compared to some other 20th century composers who are much better regarded).

The  most obvious examples are Weinberg (Vainberg), polish who fled to the USSR in 1939, and Boris Tchaikovsky (not related to Piotr Ilich). These two stand out  above the rest , or at least this is my impression. I need to give it some more time to listen to more of their stuff .

Weinberg s Symphony No.3 ... is it me or this is one of the most unfairly ignored symphonies of the 20th century?

And Tchaikovsky, Piano concerto,  and so much of his  huge catalogue ... how can these artists get so little recognition outside their homeland?

[dafrieze]

I agree with you about Vainberg.  I've managed to hear most of his symphonies, and the best of them are fully the equal of the best of his friend and mentor Shostakovich.  He's at his worst when he's trying to copy Shostakovich.  Boris Tchaikovsky I don't know well enough - I'll follow your tip on his piano concerto.

I suspect timing and politics have everything to do with our general lack of knowledge of Soviet composers.  Shostakovich, in particular, had an extraordinarily compelling personal story that has been - and still is - exploited by Cold Warriors trying to claim him for the "right" side.  Also, Shostakovich was one of the handful of Soviet composers allowed out of the Soviet Union to promote their own, and by extension their country's, music.  Stalin seems to have considered him to be by far the strongest and most "exportable" of Soviet composers, even if his leash had to be tugged a few times to bring him to heel.  As far as the West was concerned, Shostakovich and Prokofiev were the faces of Soviet music, and few others got much of a look in (or out).  In Vainberg's case, being Jewish didn't help much either.

[imirizaldu]

To give you an idea about Boris Tchaikovsky, i ve seen the premiére recording of his Cello Partita and  the performers are BT himself on piano and Mstslav Rostropovich, no other, on cello. The wealth of his work is pretty unusual.

http://www.boris-tchaikovsky.com/english.htm

I really don t understand how , with so many concert goers (me being amongst those) complaining about how repetitive the symphonic and piano recital programs are these days, how can composers as great as these can still be unsung? Seems silly and unfair to me.

[dafrieze]

Sadly, I think the vast majority of concertgoers prefer musical comfort food.  Those of us who subscribe to this site are definitely in the minority - but a vocal one.

[Amphissa]

Myaskovsky was the most prominent of the unsungs and the best, so far as I'm concerned. His cello concerto, violin concerto and some of his symphonies were excellent. And he was not unknown in the West. Stock commissioned a symphony from him (his 20th) for the 100th anniversary season of the Chicago Symphony.

Also on this list goes Gliere, whose horn concerto and symphonies are among the better works of the Soviet era. The Red Poppy Suite got a lot of play in the West, and Stokowski recorded some chopped up versions of the 3rd symphony.

There is a very good listing of Soviet era composers, their works and recordings here: http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/
Of course, many of the listed composers wrote more modern music than we prefer here in the Unsungs corner. Still, it is an interesting starting point for exploring Russian composers.

[eschiss1]

Interesting, I didn't know it was the 20th that Stock commissioned... a fine piece with a wonderful peroration at the end but it fell quite out sight until Svetlanov recorded it. No.21 in F-sharp minor has had much more attention relatively speaking including recordings by American orchestras. No.13 in B-flat minor, though never recorded (again) until the Svetlanov series, was also performed in the US I believe, unusually for Myaskovsky symphonies...

actually, according to the World Premieres PDF at CSO, symphony  no.21 was premiered by the CSO on 26 Dec. 1940 conducted by Frederick Stock. (Even that seems to be inaccurate according to Rijen's page - premiere was 16 November 1940, USSR State SO, Gauk. Symphony 20 also premiered 1940, 28 Nov. 1940, cond. Golovanov. It does seem from other sources that sym. 21 was indeed commissioned by the Chicago Sym. though... works by Myaskovsky premiered outside the USSR include, I think, piano sonata no.4 (premiered at a ISCM meeting?). (The US Premieres PDF at the same site above shows that Stock and deFauw were interested enough in Myaskovsky to give the US premieres- apparently? - of symphonies 12, 13, 15, 21 and the overture op.48, at least. Oh, and Straesser's symphony no.1 (out of topic), and Muradeli's symphony no.1 (historically famous, that. back in), and Vladigerov's violin concerto no.1, ... ...

[alberto]

I had luckily the occasion (in my city)- and unluckily the age -  of hearing and seeing Boris Caicovskij performing his piano concerto on 27/11/1974 with Rudolph Barshai and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (no prodigious memory: I have a book recollecting the dates, up to a certain year).
That concert was an example of clever programming, as it comprised also:
Sciostakovich Six poems on Tzvetaeva verses op.143a, for alto and chamber orch.
Prokofiev (arr.Barshai) Visions Fugitives (15, from the original 20 for piano).
As two topics about Russians and/or Soviet are in course, maybe I will begin a topic about some individual composer.

[febnyc]

I would like to add the name of Otar Taktakishvili (1924-1989) to this discussion.  (A Georgian, but I believe he qualifies.)

He composed some beautiful music - perhaps equal to anything else written in the last century, and certainly at the top of the "Soviet period" catalog.

Taktakishvili composed four piano concertos, two violin concertos, two symphonies, chamber works. His vocal music (operas, oratorios, songs) are exquisite.  The opera "Mindiya" is a special delight. 

Find some Taktak recordings and discover something worthwhile - I did.

A resource:

http://www.georgian-music.com/free_music/taktakishvili.php

[britishcomposer]

I heard first of Taktakishvili in 1993. Dutch Radio 4 had a program dedicated to listeners requests. Once a year a few pieces were selected - don't remember if by the producer or the listeners - to be played a second time. Taktakishvili's 2nd VC was among them. I was amazed by his genius for melody, form and drama! I still cherish my old recording.

[JimL]

Myaskovsky was the most prominent of the unsungs and the best, so far as I'm concerned. His cello concerto, violin concerto and some of his symphonies were excellent. And he was not unknown in the West. Stock commissioned a symphony from him (his 20th) for the 100th anniversary season of the Chicago Symphony.

Also on this list goes Gliere, whose horn concerto and symphonies are among the better works of the Soviet era. The Red Poppy Suite got a lot of play in the West, and Stokowski recorded some chopped up versions of the 3rd symphony.

Dave, re Myaskovsky, wasn't it the 21st that was commissioned for Chicago?  And don't leave out Gliere's marvellous Harp Concerto.  It's right up there with Reinecke for me as one of the greats in the repertoire.

[eschiss1]

apparently there are at least 2 violin concertos by Taktakishvili, the 2nd I think written after the LP of the 1st (which I haven't heard yet) was issued; a CD recording of both would be a good idea... if they don't fill out the disc there's Machavariani's concerto among others

[violinconcerto]

If you are especially looking for Russian composers and their works, another good site - beside the one by Onno - is the following:

http://www.russiancomposers.org.uk/

and by the way: If you search for "Russia" on my little site, you get all the violin concertos by Russian composers:
www.violinconcerto.de

Best,
Tobias

[fyrexia]

I suggest a lot of soviet composers (which there is a lot on my channel).
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov - Symphony No.1 (where the hell is his piano concerto?)
Revol Bunin - Symphony No.5 and his instrumental concertos (viola, violin, organ, and piano concerto)
Lucija Garuta - Piano works (some kind of a women rachmaninov)
Janis Medins - Dainas and piano concerto (dainas are some really sweet music)
Otar Taktakishvili - Piano Concerto no.1 and 2, Violin Concerto no.2
Evgeny Golubev - Piano Concerto no.3 and some string quartets (we have mentioned quite a lot from him)
Levko Revutsky - Piano Concerto no.2 and several piano works (romantic ukranian)
Alexander Arutiunian - Trumpet Concerto, Piano Concertino, Violin Concerto
Erik Arutiunian - Poem for violin and orchestra (wonderful orchestration !)
Pantcho Vladigerov - Piano Concertos (5), 2 violin Concertos and piano works written op.16 onwards.
Vesselin Stoyanov - Piano Concerto No.1 and 2 (very nostalgic)
Alexander Mosolov - Piano Concerto and several piano works from the early period, Symphony in e flat major (scriabinist avant garde, except for the symphony)
Nikolai Roslavets - Everything he wrote in avantgardism?
Oleg Eiges - Piano Sonata No.4 and Symphony No.15
Orest Yevlakhov - symphony no.3 (not so convincing, but deserves a first listening !)
Arno Babadjanian - Herosagan Ballade, Violin Concerto and cello Concerto (the vc is very khachaturian and the cc has a more personal style)
Vladislav Agafonnikov - Symphony in name of shebalin (the title says it all)
Shebalin - Symphony No.5
Nikolai Peiko - String Quartets
Leonid Afanasyev - Violin Concerto
Tikhon Khrennikov - Piano Concerto no.1 and 2, 3 Symphonies and Cello Concerto no.2
Nikolai Rakov - Piano Concertos 1 and 2, 2 violin Concerto no.2
Rodion Shchedrin - Piano Concertos No.1,2,3 (no.1 is an early work)
Alexi Machavariani - Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto and Symphonies No.1,2,5
Boris Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto, Cello Sonata and the Violin Concerto
Alexander Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto
Aqsin Ali-Zade - Rustic Suite and Symphony No.2
Alexander Flyarkovsky - Symphony to "coeval" (kind of reminds shostakovich 12th)
Nektarios Chargeishvili - Symphony
Samuel Feinberg - 3 Piano Concertos, Violin Sonata and all the piano sonatas
Anatoly Alexandrov - Piano Concerto, Piano Sonata No.3
Gaziza Zhubanova - Symphony No.1
Vladimir Tsytovich - Viola Concerto
Lydia Auster - Piano Concerto (second movement very similar to rachmaninovs 2nd pc 2nd movement)
Andrei Eshpai - 2 Violin Sonatas, Piano Concerto No.2, 4 Violin Concertos
Hermann Galynin - Piano Concerto No.1
Eduard Khagagortian - Symphony No.3
Victor Kosenko - 3 Piano Sonatas
Sergei Vasilenko - Symphony No.3 and Piano Concerto
Heorhy Maiboroda - Symphony No.3
Janis Ivanovs - Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto and Symphony No.15,16
Gotfried Gasanov - Piano Concerto No.1


Some to mention..

Tony

[imirizaldu]

Samuil Feinberg also recorded one of my favourite versions of the WTC

As for German (Hermann) Galynin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Galynin

Quite like his piano music, recorded by Olga Solovieva, who has also recorded Boris Tchaikovsky 's Piano concerto for Naxos (i actually like her interpretation more than the composer's).

[eschiss1]

I would add under Shebalin in my own opinion the very fine series of 9 string quartets. Unfortunately recorded for Olympia which no longer exists but perhaps Regis or some other label will re-release the set.  Mostly "backward-looking" except maybe in some ways the 9th, but very strongly expressive and imaginative, I think.