Lesser known Russian/Soviet composers

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

This piece by Fred Momotenko is very cool. Does anyone know of any recordings of his works? I would love some recommendations on where to look from here.

https://www.youtube.com/v/np7QOF-REWw

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Also I am still looking for recordings of music by the following composers, and if there are more composers like them I should be aware of:

Elena Rykova
Alexey Glazkov
Anton Svetlichny
Stanislav Makovsky
Natasia Khrustchiova

There is one recording I posted earlier which features some of them, but I know that there are obviously more pieces that they have written which I am certainly interested in hearing. Does anyone have any clues as to where there might be some more information regarding this matter?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I realised that the reason I couldn't find anything about 'Elena Mykova' is that it was a typo........her name is Elena Rykova and I have indeed found some of the stuff I listened to a while ago again which I will post here for anyone else interested in her music.

Here is a particularly captivating work: 'The Mirror of Galadriel' performed by the composer and Denis Khorov

https://www.youtube.com/v/hgZOkv1yQ0E

Whilst the sound is perfectly musically satisfying to listen to on its own, the visual element of the performance with the projection in the background brings a new dimension to the work rather than detracts from it. I like that a lot, as unfortunately there have been quite a few cases where visuals haven't really added anything particularly new or interesting to a musical work or even blend well with it. This, however, is fantastic!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

After a LOT of looking around (searching in Cyrillic as well as Roman scripts, various possible transliterations), I have finally managed to locate some information on Настасья Алексеевна Хрущёва on a Russian-language wikipedia page, which I converted to English using Google translate.

https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25D0%25A5%25D1%2580%25D1%2583%25D1%2589%25D1%2591%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B0,_%25D0%259D%25D0%25B0%25D1%2581%25D1%2582%25D0%25B0%25D1%2581%25D1%258C%25D1%258F_%25D0%2590%25D0%25BB%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BA%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B2%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B0&prev=search


It really bothers me that there is a real lack of information about music by Russian composers. Either the majority of performances of their music aren't even happening in Russia where they have lived and worked and studied, or any information about them and recordings of their music are just nowhere near as readily available internationally like composers from other countries.

Here is a great work I finally managed to find on youtube after a looking around for days

https://www.youtube.com/v/zF_VAR9TT8M

I am not surprised so much by the popularity of her music in Russia, as it sounds like it directly comes from the kinds of post-modern polystylism seen in works by Schnittke and Gubaidulina, two very well known and highly revered Russian composers worldwide.

[Cato]

After a LOT of looking around (searching in Cyrillic as well as Roman scripts, various possible transliterations), I have finally managed to locate some information on Настасья Алексеевна Хрущёва on a Russian-language wikipedia page, which I converted to English using Google translate.

https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25D0%25A5%25D1%2580%25D1%2583%25D1%2589%25D1%2591%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B0,_%25D0%259D%25D0%25B0%25D1%2581%25D1%2582%25D0%25B0%25D1%2581%25D1%258C%25D1%258F_%25D0%2590%25D0%25BB%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BA%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B2%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B0&prev=search


It really bothers me that there is a real lack of information about music by Russian composers. Either the majority of performances of their music aren't even happening in Russia where they have lived and worked and studied, or any information about them and recordings of their music are just nowhere near as readily available internationally like composers from other countries.

Here is a great work I finally managed to find on youtube after a looking around for days

https://www.youtube.com/v/zF_VAR9TT8M

I am not surprised so much by the popularity of her music in Russia, as it sounds like it directly comes from the kinds of post-modern polystylism seen in works by Schnittke and Gubaidulina, two very well known and highly revered Russian composers worldwide.

Nastasya Khrushcheva has various things available on YouTube: here is a TV show about younger Russian composers.  Khrushcheva appears at 7:55.

https://www.youtube.com/v/WZjVxoNjLoU

[Cato]

I also found this item concerning Nastasya Khrushcheva:

https://divertissementorchestra.com/en/2016/08/25/almost-seasons-on-google-play/

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Many thanks! She has written a few very interesting pieces indeed, some in a more conservative style than others. That's an interesting philosophy in the programme note she wrote. Seems somewhat meditative.....I like it!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Here we go, another very theatrical work from Elena Rykova. This time it's something uploaded with the score. It's fascinating to see how such a theatrical performance of a musical work can be notated, don't you think?

https://www.youtube.com/v/IoN7djGdDo0

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Does anyone have any information about Anna Pospelova?

Here is a nice playful little piece

https://www.youtube.com/v/kbudX1yUENs

[Cato]

There are a few copies for much less!  Not cheap, but much more reasonable!

Yes: it is hard to fathom the neglect of Nikolai Tcherepnin.  He was a teacher for the young Prokofiev, who apparently did not think much of him.  Prokofiev's mother once asked him how much he composed every day, and he responded that sometimes "only a single bar".  Prokofiev commented that he was probably "trying to impress us with his meticulousness."

Mother Prokofiev then commented rather triumphantly that her son (in his early teens or even younger) had already composed several operas!    

I found this by chance today, in an article about an award-winning high-school orchestra:

...Alumni McKenna Sullivan's instrument of choice is the French horn, though she'll always have interest in the clarinet. Her favorite compser is Nikolai Tcherepnin, who studied under another of Sullivan's favorites, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, both Russian. Sullivan appreciates that Tcherepnin produced "quality over quantity." Sullivan performed Tcherepnin's Horn Quartet in her senior year at Ventura High with the horn section, which she recommends listening to — it's "absolutely beautiful."...

See:

https://www.vcreporter.com/2017/10/sound-of-music-local-high-school-orchestra-takes-performance-to-highest-level/

And so...

https://www.youtube.com/v/F_Pi6nbSY5c

[vandermolen]

Amazingly Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's wonderful score for the Soviet-era film of 'War and Peace' is available on CD! I have a copy in front of me now after a specialist soundtrack shop tracked it down for me. Although I had the LP (released by the same company) I've been looking for a CD of it for decades. It is released by 'That's Entertainment' - the same company who released the LP and is a good quality transfer and not a bootleg. I've been looking for decades.

You heard it here first!

[Cato]

Amazingly Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's wonderful score for the Soviet-era film of 'War and Peace' is available on CD! I have a copy in front of me now after a specialist soundtrack shop tracked it down for me. Although I had the LP (released by the same company) I've been looking for a CD of it for decades. It is released by 'That's Entertainment' - the same company who released the LP and is a good quality transfer and not a bootleg. I've been looking for decades.

You heard it here first!

And I had just checked Amazon about two weeks ago with the same desperate decades-long hope!   

Many thanks for the information!!!

[vandermolen]

And I had just checked Amazon about two weeks ago with the same desperate decades-long hope!   

Many thanks for the information!!!

I thought that you'd be pleased Leo!


PS I obtained it from Backtrack Records in Rye UK - they are a specialist soundtrack record shop of the old school - probably one of the last few remaining. They charge £15 for 'War and Peace' which is very reasonably considering the rarity of the CD.

[shirime]

Also I am still looking for recordings of music by the following composers, and if there are more composers like them I should be aware of:

Elena Rykova
Alexey Glazkov
Anton Svetlichny
Stanislav Makovsky
Natasia Khrustchiova

There is one recording I posted earlier which features some of them, but I know that there are obviously more pieces that they have written which I am certainly interested in hearing. Does anyone have any clues as to where there might be some more information regarding this matter?

Vandermolen, you seem to be one of the experts on Russian composers around here; do you have any information regarding these composers? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[André]

Amazingly Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's wonderful score for the Soviet-era film of 'War and Peace' is available on CD! I have a copy in front of me now after a specialist soundtrack shop tracked it down for me. Although I had the LP (released by the same company) I've been looking for a CD of it for decades. It is released by 'That's Entertainment' - the same company who released the LP and is a good quality transfer and not a bootleg. I've been looking for decades.

You heard it here first!

I have a copy that a fellow GMGer made me,  presumably from an Lp of the film's soundtrack.

Coincidentally, this morning I placed an order for this,



where Ovchinnikov is heard in his capacity as conductor in The Tempest and The Voyevode, 2 lesser known Tchaikovsky orchestral works. I consider his versions of Francesca da Rimini and Romeo and Juliet unbeatable.

[vandermolen]

Vandermolen, you seem to be one of the experts on Russian composers around here; do you have any information regarding these composers? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I like the music of a lot of Russian/Soviet composers but am sadly no expert (although I was once part of the ironically titled 'Braga Santos Experts' of legendary/notorious memory in this forum). I'm sorry to say that I haven't come across the music of any of the composers, I looked up the first one, who is obviously quite young and am very impressed that she has her own web site which features the word 'rocks' in the www address.

Here it is:

https://www.elenarykova.rocks

I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful.

[vandermolen]

I have a copy that a fellow GMGer made me,  presumably from an Lp of the film's soundtrack.

Coincidentally, this morning I placed an order for this,



where Ovchinnikov is heard in his capacity as conductor in The Tempest and The Voyevode, 2 lesser known Tchaikovsky orchestral works. I consider his versions of Francesca da Rimini and Romeo and Juliet unbeatable.

Very interesting. I was also made a CD-R copy of the War and Peace soundtrack, from the LP, by a kind fellow music forum member. I wish Ovchinnikov's symphonies were available on CD. I remember greatly enjoying an old Melodiya LP of Symphony 2 for strings bought from a specialist soviet music outlet in central London (when I went to the Melodiya shop on Nevsky Prospect in Leningrad (as it was then called) in 1985/6 and asked for any music by Miaskovsky, they looked at me as if I was mad. Eventually I found a couple of his string quartets on LP. My friend was surprised to see a lot of music by Bax in the shop before realising this was the Russian for Bach).

[André]

I think we have the same source for Ovchinnikov works (W&P, the symphonies)  .

Also not to be forgotten is the short but powerfully evocative symphony by Nektarios Chargeishvili. Fortunately that one is readily available on Youtube.

[shirime]

I like the music of a lot of Russian/Soviet composers but am sadly no expert (although I was once part of the ironically titled 'Braga Santos Experts' of legendary/notorious memory in this forum). I'm sorry to say that I haven't come across the music of any of the composers, I looked up the first one, who is obviously quite young and am very impressed that she has her own web site which features the word 'rocks' in the www address.

Here it is:

https://www.elenarykova.rocks

I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful.

From what I have been able to discover of her works over the past few months, she excels in interdisciplinary works.

I think the Russians are particularly good in this area of composition at the moment. I'd love to see some more.

Does anyone have recommendations of Russian composers known for interdisciplinary compositions?

[vandermolen]

From what I have been able to discover of her works over the past few months, she excels in interdisciplinary works.

I think the Russians are particularly good in this area of composition at the moment. I'd love to see some more.

Does anyone have recommendations of Russian composers known for interdisciplinary compositions?

You might enjoy the music of Dobrinka Tabakova (Bulgarian/British rather than Russian) - a recommendation from John (Mirror Image) from this forum. Not sure it is what you mean but might be worth sampling on You Tube for example.