Andrei Volkonsky
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Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky also Andrey, André, Mikhailovich, Michailovich, Volkonski, Volkonskiy, etc. Andrei (Russian: Андрей Михайлович Волконский, born: February 14, 1933, Genève, Switzerland) is a Russian composer of classical music, conductor and harpsichordist. He is the key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia.
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[edit] Biography
The descendant of an aristocratic princely family, he was born in exile in Geneva in 1933. As a child he played his improvisations to Sergei Rachmaninov. Then he studied piano with the legendary Dinu Lipatti. The Volkonsky family resettled in Moscow in 1947. From 1950 to 1954 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Yuri Shaporin, but was expelled for the breaking of some minor disciplinary rules. In 1956 Volkonsky began the career of a harpsichord player and conductor. He was a pinoeer in Russia of mediaeval and baroque music performance. In 1965 he founded an ensemble of early music, called ‘Madrigal’.
He was amongst the first Soviet composers who began experiments with twelve-tone and serial techniques. His suite for piano, "Musica Stricta" (1956) is an early result. His works greatly influenced his colleagues. To write this sort of music at that time was an act of courage: it was a protest against suppression of freedom, and specifically against the requirement of composers in Soviet Russia to follow a few narrowly-prescribed examples. As an attempt at a real renewal and enrichment of the musical language in Russia, it is not surprising that his music was forbidden and banned from performance.
In order to get permission to go abroad Volkonsky entered into a pro forma marriage, (divorcing after leaving the country). He said that he had been fighting for 25 years to establish and preserve his artistic individuality in Moscow before requesting the right to emigrate in December 1972.
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- "The next day I was expelled from the Union of Composers. All my concerts were cancelled. The record company was instructed not to issue the recordings I has made…" (Andrei Volkonsky)
But he was not allowed to leave immediately. Five months of suspense and unemployment followed, during which he hounded the passport office, and sold most of his belongings, including scores and books, to keep himself financially afloat.
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- "The Soviet authorities finally had the intelligence and wisdom to allow a composer who was of no use to them in their fulfilment of their music five-year plans because he could not compose the kind of music that alone can be played in the Soviet Union… I was just a speck of dirt in the grand marble palace of Soviet Culture." (Andrei Volkonsky)
He was married (1954-1960 ) to the poet Helvi Jürisson (b. 05.10.1928). They had a son prince Peeter Volkonski also prince Piotr Andreevitch Volkonsky (b.12.09.1954), famous actor and rock-musician. Andrei Volkonsky emigrated to the West in 1973. At first returned to Geneva, the town where he was born, and later settled in Aix-en-Provence (in the South of France).
[edit] Selected works
- Piano Sonata B-flat Major (1949),
- Rus, cantata on text by Nikolai Gogol (1952),
- The Face of the World, cantata on text by Paul Éluard (1952),
- Concerto for Orchestra (1953),
- Capriccio for orchestra (1954),
- Piano Quintet (1954),
- String Quartet (1955),
- Sonata for Viola and Piano (1955),
- Musica Stricta for piano (1956),
- Fantasia for Piano (1955),
- Two Japanese Songs for chorus, electric sound and percussion (1957),
- Music for 12 Instruments (1957),
- Serenade for Insect for chamber orchestra (1959),
- Mirror Suite for soprano and 5 players: Flute, Violin, Guitar, Organ and Percussion on text by Garcia Lorca (1960);
- Viola Sonata (1960),
- Lamentations of Schchaza for soprano, Cor Anglais, Violin, Marimba, Vibrafono, and Cembalo on text by Schchaza (1961)
- Jeux à Trous for flute, violin and harpsichord (1962);
- Concerto Itinérant for soprano, violin percussion and 26 instruments, text by Omar Khayam (1967),
- Replica for small orchestra (1969),
- Les mailles du Temps for 3 instrumental groups (1970).
- Mugham for tar and harpsichord (1974),
- Lied for 4 voices (1974),
- Immobile for piano and orchestra (1978),
- Was noch lebt for mezzo soprano and string trio on text by Johannes Bobrowski (1985),
- Psalm 148 for chorus (1989),
- Carrefour for ensemble (1992).
[edit] Recordings
- CTH 2502: ANDRE VOLKONSKY
Suite de los espejos/Spiegel-Suite/Mirror Suite/La Suite de miroirs Federico Garcia Lorca (1959)
- 1. Symbol 1:15
- 2. Der grofte Spiegel 0:15
- 3. Reflex 1:18
- 4. Strahlen 0:19
- 5. Widerhall 1:01
- 6. Shinto - Weg der Gotter 1:16
- 7. Die Augen 6:12
- 8. Initium 0:50
- 9. Schlaflied fur den schlafrigen Spiegel 5:16
Les Plaintes de Shchaza/Die Klagen der Shchaza/Laments of Shchaza (1960)
- 10. Lento ma non troppo 2:19
- 11. Presto 2:05
- 12. Lento rubato 6:38
- 13. Aussi vite que possible 5:07
Concert itinerant/Das wandernde Konzert/Wandering Concerto 30:33 (Omar Hayyam) (1964-67)
- 14.
(1-9) Lydia Davydova (Sopran), Andre Volkonsky (Orgel) und Solisten des Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad Philharmonic, Leitung: Igor Blazhkov. Aufnahme: 1967 (10-13) Lydia Davydova (Sopran), Andre Volkonsky (Cembalo) und Solisten des Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad Philharmonic, Leitung: Igor Blazhkov. Aufnahme: 1965 (14) Tatiana Marushchak (Sopran), Grigory Sandomirsky (Violine), Natalia Pshenichnikova (Flote), Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble, Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra, Leitung: Timur Mynbaev Live-Aufnahme beim ,,Alternativa?" Festival Moskau im Oktober 1989
- Bella, CD, ADD, 1965-1989
STEREO
Listen to the tracks of the CD
[edit] Composer - Filmography
- Novye pokhozhdeniya Kota v Sapogakh (1958) / Новые похождения кота в сапогах (as A. Volkonsky)
- Marya-iskusnitsa (1960) / Марья-искусница /Maria, the Wonderful Weaver / The Magic Weaver (USA)
- Priklyucheniya Krosha (1961) / Приключения Кроша / Adventures of Krosh
- 3+2 (1962) / Three Plus Two / Tri plyus dva
- Voyna pod kryshami (1967) / Война под крышами / The War Under the Roofs
- Myortvyy sezon (1968) Мёртвый сезон / The Dead Season
- Mogila Lva (1971) / Могила льва / The Lion's Grave [1]
- Pereprava (1987) / Переправа [2]
[edit] Bibliography
- Yuri Kholopov: Andrei Volkonsky the initiator: a profile of his life and work, in «Ex oriente...II» Nine Composers from the former USSR: Andrei Volkonsky, Sergei Slonimsky, Alemdar Karamanov, Valentin Silvestrov, Nikolai Karetnikov, Roman Ledenyov, Faraj Karaev, Victor Ekimovsky, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Edited by Valeria Tsenova, English Edition only, (studia slavica musicologica, Bd. 30), 245 pp., music illus., ISBN 3-928864-91-2 (Format 21 x 14,8 cm)
