Vsevolod Zaderatsky (1891-1953)

[Androcles]

I am wondering if anyone has heard much by this composer and what they think about his music.

Here is my take.

He certainly has perhaps the most exciting/troubling biography of any composer I have come across, his music largely suppressed and forgotten by the Soviet system (he was a music tutor to the Tsar's son). He incredibly wrote his major piece of music with a borrowed pencil on telegraph paper in the Kolyma gulag - the 24 Preludes and Fugues from 1937-38.

I have heard some of his piano music - I tracked down the first three sonatas, various suites, the 24 Preludes and some of the 24 Preludes and Fugues. The 24 Preludes and Fugues was apparently given its premiere only last year, after having been largely forgotten for the best part of 80 years.

There is a Symphony and a Violin Concerto that remain unperformed. The only orchestral piece I have come across is 'Factory' and is very much in the Mossolov Iron Foundry kind of mould. I would be interested to hear more.

The piano pieces I have heard suggest a depth of musical personality rare in the Russian futurists, in my view superior to Roslavets and Mossolov. The futurist Piano Sonata No. 2 has a haunting atmosphere. The Preludes and Fugues I have heard are extremely impressive - I particularly like the A minor piece. Both his 24 Preludes and 24 Preludes and Fugues seem to give the respective Shostakovich sets a run for their money. The 24 Preludes is available on disc alongside those of Shostakovich performed by Jascha Nemtsov (a pianist from Magadan where the composer was sent to do hard labour).

Edit: I just realised that Nemtsov's performance of the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues is now available on Amazon. I shall be purchasing this.

[Scion7]

I'm not familiar with him. Please add his b/d dates to your original post topic.

The Grove lists these works:

Mikrobï liriki (Nuancen der Lirik),
piano miniatures, 1928;
piano Sonata no.1, 1928;
piano Sonata no.2, 1928;
Tetrad' miniatyur (Miniaturenheft), piano, 1929;
Farforovïye chashki [China Cups], piano, 1932;
Liricheskaya simfoniyetta [Lyrical Sinfonietta], strings, 1932;
24 Preludes and Fugues, piano, 1934;
piano Sonata no.3, 1936;
24 Preludes and Fugues, 1937;
piano Sonata no.4, 1939;
Chamber Sinfonietta, 9 pianomrs, 1940;
piano Sonata no.5, 1940;
Legendï, piano, 1944;
Front, piano, 1944;
Rodina [Homeland], piano, 1945;
Symphony, C, orch, 1952;
Violin Conc., 1952;
Sonatina, piano (1985)

A few piano works on YT -->   https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Vsevolod+Zaderatsky

[Scion7]

This is interesting:

1952-1953 : Vsevolod Petrovitch dedicates the two last years of his life to teaching and composition. His n°1 symphonie is completed in 1952. He starts the writing of a violin concerto. In january 1953 he is keen to complete his work.

31 janvier 1953 : While frantically working at his violin concerto, Vsevolod Petrovitch Zaderatsky dies during the night from a heart attack. During his funerals, L'vov symphonic orchestra plays his symphonic works for the first time. He was buried on the 3rd february 1953 in L'vov Lychakivsky cemetery, a quiet, splendid place full of trees, with a large crowd attending the ceremony. On his grave there are two latin mottos, who guided his life: Nulla dies sine linea, Per aspera ad astra. No day without writing a line, Towards the stars through steep paths.

. . . so it appears that the Violin Concerto is unfinished?

[Androcles]

Apologies. Now with dates 

Yes - all his works up to 1928 were destroyed by the Soviet authorities when he was sent to prison for the second time.

The Violin Concerto remains unorchestrated, I believe, but is complete in piano score.

Many thanks for the list of works. I think there are a few gaps though. In particular the orchestral 'simfonicheskie plakati' from the 1930s (which include 'Factory'). I just did a quick google search for a list of his works, but I'm struggling to retrieve the info I think I read a while ago....

[Scion7]

http://vsevolod.zaderatsky.free.fr/spip.php?article9

[Scion7]

Scholars stumble upon the draft for Zaderatsky's Violin Concerto:



" It says, "
" What? "
" He must have died while composing it. "

[Androcles]

Very amusing use of Monty Python there.

Apparently though he suffered from heart disease following official condemnation in 1948. Unlike many of his fellow better known composers he started writing angry letters back. I suppose he couldn't give a monkeys really after being imprisoned and nearly executed during the Civil War then personally pardoned by Dzherzhinsky who liked his piano playing, imprisoned again in 1926 with all his works destroyed and then imprisoned in the infamous gulag in Kolyma in 1937. He did well to survive all that really. He should have died much earlier...

A more complete list of works is available here :http://vsevolod.zaderatsky.free.fr/spip.php?article15

But it is in Russian.

[Androcles]

Piano Sonata No. 2 is on the disc 'Anthology of Piano Music by Russian & Soviet Com.3', available on Amazon.

It comes with a few other piano pieces by Russian futurists - most notably the 3rd Sonata of Sergei Protopopov that sounds a bit like heavy metal and requires an oversize piano. The Zaderatsky is, in my view, ultimately better, though.

[Roy Bland]

On 2/6/2019 will be presented in Moscow at Central press Hall a movie on his life by Yakubek