Aside from the famous ones, who is your favorite Soviet composer?

Started by relm1, June 03, 2020, 04:37:40 PM

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relm1

Aside from Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, who is your favorite Soviet composer?  I'll define Soviet composer as a composer whose reputation relies prominently between works composed during 1917-1992.   So Khachaturian qualifies but Russian born Airat Ichmouratov (b. 1973) would not.


Mirror Image

That's a tough one! If pushed into a corner, I'd say Weinberg. I'm not sure if he qualifies as a 'famous one'. If he does, then I choose Myaskovsky.

bhodges


André

Yes, Schnittke. But also Kancheli, Silvestrov, Popov, Shebalin and Lyatoshinsky, too. I guess Weinberg can be counted as an honorary Soviet composer. He deserves a top spot IMO.

Wait till vandermolen sees this thread  ;).

some guy

Quote from: relm1 on June 03, 2020, 04:37:40 PM
Aside from Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, who is your favorite Soviet composer?  I'll define Soviet composer as a composer whose reputation relies prominently between works composed during 1917-1992.   So Khachaturian qualifies but Russian born Airat Ichmouratov (b. 1973) would not.
Your definition includes a lot of people, though, as it doesn't refer to nationality in any way. So Copland and Boulez and Stockhausen as well. And Stravinsky.

To answer what I think you were going for, however, Avet Terterian.

Symphonic Addict

Dmitry Kabalevsky. Or Gavriil Popov. Or Nikolai Myaskovsky.
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Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on June 03, 2020, 07:51:21 PM
Dmitry Kabalevsky. Or Gavriil Popov. Or Nikolai Myaskovsky.

Would love to pick your mind about Kabalevsky, Cesar. What's so great about this composer in your opinion? I have a good bit of his music on disc: the CPO sets of symphonies and PCs and all of the Chandos recordings of various orchestral works. I believe I also own a good bit of his music on Naxos.

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Mirror Image on June 03, 2020, 08:07:21 PM
Would love to pick your mind about Kabalevsky, Cesar. What's so great about this composer in your opinion? I have a good bit of his music on disc: the CPO sets of symphonies and PCs and all of the Chandos recordings of various orchestral works. I believe I also own a good bit of his music on Naxos.

I sometimes feel Kabalevsky like a more relaxed and more good-humoured composer if compared with Shostakovich or Prokofiev, but at the same time he shares features from both composers. It's relatively noticeable. His music can be very fun (Piano Concertos, overtures, piano music), but he can achieve moments of eloquent profundity, like in his Requiem, the powerful Cello Concerto No. 2 or the 3rd Symphony. That CPO set of the symphonies is excellent. Naxos has recorded two of his symphonies with some overtures. A great disc.

I would think that if you like Shostakovich and Prokofiev, you could enjoy Kabalevsky.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on June 03, 2020, 08:16:49 PM
I sometimes feel Kabalevsky like a more relaxed and more good-humoured composer if compared with Shostakovich or Prokofiev, but at the same time he shares features from both composers. It's relatively noticeable. His music can be very fun (Piano Concertos, overtures, piano music), but he can achieve moments of eloquent profundity, like in his Requiem, the powerful Cello Concerto No. 2 or the 3rd Symphony. That CPO set of the symphonies is excellent. Naxos has recorded two of his symphonies with some overtures. A great disc.

I would think that if you like Shostakovich and Prokofiev, you could enjoy Kabalevsky.

Thanks for the feedback, Cesar. I have listened to Kabalevsky many years ago, but haven't really thought about his music in years.

vandermolen

Quote from: André on June 03, 2020, 05:39:11 PM
Yes, Schnittke. But also Kancheli, Silvestrov, Popov, Shebalin and Lyatoshinsky, too. I guess Weinberg can be counted as an honorary Soviet composer. He deserves a top spot IMO.

Wait till vandermolen sees this thread  ;).

Haha  :)

If it's only one then definitely Miaskovsky but others on my radar are:

Popov
Shebalin
Eshpai

Boris Tchaikovsky's 'Sebastapol Symphony' (No.3) has recently had a big impact on me.

If Lyatoshinsky and Weinberg are allowed then them too.
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Quote from: relm1 on June 03, 2020, 04:37:40 PM
Aside from Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, who is your favorite Soviet composer?  I'll define Soviet composer as a composer whose reputation relies prominently between works composed during 1917-1992.   So Khachaturian qualifies but Russian born Airat Ichmouratov (b. 1973) would not.

This illustrates how random and "pointless" these classifications are. Arvo Pärt perhaps used to be a Soviet composer, but has certainly always identified himself as an Estonian! Are we supposed to call Pärt a Soviet composer just because Estonia's independence wasn't restored until 1991? How about Valentin Silvestrov? Did he identify himself as a Soviet or Ukranian composer? These are important things because how you identify yourself has an influence on your art! Weinberg can be perhaps called a "genuine" Soviet composer, but even he much have had Polish identity. However, this is a fool game. I like or dislike a composer regardless of their nationality, country of birth or how they identified themselves.
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MusicTurner

Should I pick 5 from the former Soviet sphere, it would probably be Myaskovsky, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Feinberg, Silvestrov (including early Silvestrov).

But I could easily pick further ones - Weinberg, Denisov, Pärt, Glonti, Artyomov etc.

Silvestrov has gone rather Ukranian in the last years, due to the Russian leadership's attacks on Ukraine, but he is distinguishing between the Russian leadership/Putin and the cultural relations http://www.musicologynow.org/2014/03/valentin-silvestrov-and-what-times.html

Gubaidulina on the other hand, a friend of Silvestrov and Pärt etc., calling herself Russian, seems to adhere to the Russian version of the events in Ukraine, including the so-called Russian "humanitarian convoys" into it etc. https://russkiymir.ru/en/publications/235491/

Todd

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Brian

Rachmaninov a Soviet composer? Surely that's a typo.

Anyway, I'm gonna have to default to Weinberg, though I enjoy Kabalevsky and I am curious if Czech and Hungarian composers from this time period qualify, or if they are more "Iron Curtain" composers than strictly Soviet. Someone listed Arvo Part, so maybe I can indeed sneak in Kabelac or Ligeti...

Florestan

Quote from: relm1 on June 03, 2020, 04:37:40 PM
Rachmaninoff

If Rachmaninoff, a staunchly anti-Bolshevik lesser aristocrat (described by Pravda as "especially dangerous on the ideological front of the current class war") who never set foot on USSR soil qualifies as Soviet, then next to him my favorites are Medtner and Bortkiewicz;D

EDIT: I see Brian beat me to it.

Now seriously speaking, I haven't listened to much Soviet music besides Shostakovich and Prokofiev but I liked anything I've heard by Khachaturyan and Kabalevsky. And recently I discovered the wonderful piano music of one Anatoly Alexandrov.

A composer I've been meaning to explore for ages but somehow never got to start the project is Myaskovsky.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Mirror Image

Quote from: Florestan on June 04, 2020, 06:00:12 AM
If Rachmaninoff, a staunchly anti-Bolshevik lesser aristocrat (described by Pravda as "especially dangerous on the ideological front of the current class war") who never set foot on USSR soil qualifies as Soviet, then next to him my favorites are Medtner and Bortkiewicz;D

EDIT: I see Brian beat me to it.

Now seriously speaking, I haven't listened to much Soviet music besides Shostakovich and Prokofiev but I liked anything I've heard by Khachaturyan and Kabalevsky. And recently I discovered the wonderful piano music of one Anatoly Alexandrov.

A composer I've been meaning to explore for ages but somehow never got to start the project is Myaskovsky.

You should definitely checkout Myaskovsky, Andrei. And while you're at it, Weinberg as well.

Florestan

Quote from: Mirror Image on June 04, 2020, 06:07:08 AM
You should definitely checkout Myaskovsky, Andrei. And while you're at it, Weinberg as well.

Will certainly do, John.

From Weinberg I have only this:



and I quite liked the works I've already listened to.

Where would you say I should start with his symphonic and chamber music?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini