# Russian Composers and music



## Djohnsson (Apr 20, 2016)

In case you are interested in Russian music, I found this really interesting feature they have at primephonic. A lot of great articles and insights! If I had to pick one, who would be the most relevant Russian composer?

http://www.primephonic.com/news-the-spirit-of-russia
http://www.primephonic.com/news-the-last-russian-romantic


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Glazunov and Stravo on the same album, the travesty! 

I agree that Rachmaninoff was probably the last true (famous) Russian Romantic. But others near his generation included Gliere and Medtner, who were _the _very last to live. Other Russian composers of the Soviet Era who wrote "romantic" stuff (including Khachaturian, Shostakovich and Prokofiev) I would call them Neo-Romantic, and not the old style of Romanticism.

_Relevance_... that's an intriguing idea. On what scale? For me as an individual? For a certain strata of society? For a host of nations? I think most people would say Stravinsky because he is most relevant to our current aesthetic trends of the day, i.e. modernism and post-modernism.

But I must admit the most _ir_relevant Russian composers to have affected Western Music have been the most relevant to me, and that's good enough for me.


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## majlis (Jul 24, 2005)

I don't think he was relevant, because he didn't add anything new. But I love, revere and admire him, who wrote the biggest and best corpus of chamber Russian music of the XIX century. I mean great Sergey Taneyev.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

In responding to Huilunsoittaja:

Myaskovsky, some would argue, represented old style Romanticism a la Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov (in his later years anyway, for his earlier works pushed the boundaries a bit). Much of it is true with Kabalevsky. There were also Feinberg and Scherbachov who were part of the generation of Medtner and Gliere mentioned above who wrote in a late-Romantic vein (Feinberg with his strong Scriabin leaning, Scherbachov leaning towards Tchaikovsky and Taneyev). There was also Shaporin, who never really left Romanticism (and, come to think of it, Sergei Bortkiewicz & Nikolai Rakov).


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Medtner a romantic? I never heard his music quite that way. He seems more 20th century if not quite radically so.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

majlis said:


> I don't think he was relevant, because he didn't add anything new. But I love, revere and admire him, who wrote the biggest and best corpus of chamber Russian music of the XIX century. I mean great Sergey Taneyev.


ayyyyyyy that Piano Quartet am I right???


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Russian composers, there's always something nice to find. Everytime I start digging I discover yet another more or less obscure Russian late 19th/early 20th century composer who wrote worthwhile late romantic music... and they were all interconnected one way or another. Amazing times.


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## Guest (Apr 20, 2016)

The most relevant composer would have to be alive by definition. It'd probably be Dmitri Kourliandski.


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## majlis (Jul 24, 2005)

I've all his chamber. All string trios, quartets and quintets, piano trio, quartet and quintet, and violin sonata. Plus the extraordinary Suite for violin&orchestra, the best ever done.


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## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

I've always adored Russian composers. The repertoire seems to go on forever with them and you can always discover something new.

Though to me noone can top Stanchinsky and Scriabin (perhaps Feinberg too). I've always been interested in the mystical styles of the latter two. K. Eiges has a great piano output which, thanks to J. Powell has been somewhat recorded. Like Medtner mixed with some Scriabin. Really fantastic stuff.

Krein has a fantastic sonata as does Pasternak (who would have thought he was originally a composer before writing Dr. Zivagho?). I've been obsessed with Obukhov's works lately, especially his prayers. Shame I can't seem to find a pdf! Though I guess these aren't quite romantic.

How about Catoire? I've been nothing but impressed with his recorded works. Who knows what else is there. Bortkiewicz also always will have a place in my heart with his lush romanticism.


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Weston said:


> Medtner a romantic? I never heard his music quite that way. He seems more 20th century if not quite radically so.


There are a number of musicologists who argue that the term romanticism should include composers right up through the 20th century. They agree that with regard to music specifically the term "romanticism" that there have many different and conflicting understandings of what that concretely means, but they find it the most helpful term for the moment. One of the reasons that they use the term is that the romantic tradition never ended--it has thrived through the 20th-century, but most music textbooks did not give much, if any, discussion of these composers.

The following is a link to a very recent doctoral dissertation (very enjoyable writing style) that discusses "romanticism" and he covers a great deal of Russian composers.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/books/Pauls_two_centuries_in_one.pdf

Medtner is discussed in great detail. Rachmaninoff funded Medtner's 1930-something book _Muse and Fashion_. It was translated into English in 1951. There are so few copies circulating that it is extraordinarily costly. I have obtained the original Russian (for $45+/-); I would like someone here to translate it again and republish it.

Re/ Pauls' _Musical Romanticism and the Twentieth Century_. Becca+ started a thread entitled the following. I found this text by reading all the way through her post. 

http://www.talkclassical.com/42943-pierre-boulez-friend-musician.html


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

majlis said:


> I don't think he was relevant, because he didn't add anything new. But I love, revere and admire him, who wrote the biggest and best corpus of chamber Russian music of the XIX century. I mean great Sergey Taneyev.


I enjoy Taneyev. Particularly his _Suite de concert_ op.28 The only recording I have of this is the one by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Järvi, with Lydia Mordkovitch on violin. (Chandos 10491)


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## Kenneth (Apr 13, 2016)

If I had to choose the most relevant russian composer, I would be in troubles deciding within Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. There are, however, several other composers worht mentioning such as Rachmaninov, Balakirev, Mussorsgky, etc.


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## majlis (Jul 24, 2005)

Look for Oistrakh-Malko. No better version exists.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

I'm in the Medtner-as-Romantic camp too. Just because a composer wrote in the 20th century doesn't make him a 20th-century composer, if you know what I mean.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

gardibolt said:


> I'm in the Medtner-as-Romantic camp too. Just because a composer wrote in the 20th century doesn't make him a 20th-century composer, if you know what I mean.


He certainly wouldn't have wanted to be thought of as a modernist composer, given that he thought every chord beyond dominant ninths simply was not a real harmony.


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