Rodion Shchedrin

The son of the music theorist and writer, composer Rodion Shchedrin was encouraged in his musical interests from an extremely young age. Preliminary studies in the Moscow Conservatory had been interrupted by Russia’s involvement in World Battle II, however in 1948 he came into the Moscow Choral College, and 3 years later on he returned towards the Conservatory. There he researched piano with Yakov Fliyer and structure with Yuri Shaporin. At exactly the same time, his fascination with Russian folk music found the top; he led a 1951 visit to Belorussia to get folk songs, a few of which arrive in his early Piano Quintet (1952). Folk tracks also are likely involved in his excellent Piano Concerto No. 1 (1954), which he had written and premiered as his graduation structure through the Conservatory. Shortly after his graduation, Shchedrin started what is becoming one of is own best-known functions, the ballet Konek-gorbunok (The tiny humpbacked equine, 1956), which quickly became a staple from the Bolshoi ballet. Another extremely popular function in Russia was the opera Not really love only (1961). In the middle-’60s, Shchedrin began to incorporate contemporary sounds and methods like tone-rows and aleatorics (possibility components) into functions like his Symphony No. 2 (1962-1965) as well as the Piano Concerto No. 2 (1966). After that, Shchedrin has regularly exhibited an eclectic flavor; components of the avant-garde, neo-Classicism, folk, jazz, and pop music possess all played assignments in his music, which he provides known as “post-avant-garde.” In 1962, Shchedrin was suggested to achieve success Tikhon Khrennikov as chairman from the Union of Soviet Composers. In the case, Khrennikov finished up residing in the post, but Shchedrin do afterwards be successful Dmitri Shostakovich as the chairman from the Composers’ Union of Russia, and continues to be its honorary chairman. From 1964 to 1969, Shchedrin taught structure on the Moscow Conservatory, even though gaining recognition among the most effective Russian composers of his period. Music fans all over the world came to learn The Carmen Ballet, his 1968 set up of elements of Georges Bizet’s Carmen for strings and percussion, created for his wife, ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. He also had written the full-length ballet Anna Karenina (1972) on her behalf. Although components of Russian Orthodox chants made an appearance in early functions like Chimes (1967) as well as the Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (created for the 125th wedding anniversary of the brand new York Philharmonic), it had been not before 1980s that explicit liturgical styles found their method into functions like Stihira (1987) as well as the Covered Angel (1988). To day, Shchedrin has created, among a great many other functions, five piano concertos, five concertos for orchestra, and three symphonies; the newest of the (subtitled “Moments of Russian Fairy Stories”) was premiered in Berlin in June 2000.