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Dmitri Smirov: COMPOSER'S NOTES Opp: (click the numbers)
4d 6 8 10 11 12 16 19 21 23 24 26 30 36b 37 41a 41c 41 42 43 45 47 50 51 54 57 58 59 61, 62, 64 65 66 70 72 73 74 77 83 86 90 92 93 94 95 96 97a 101 104 106 109 111 116, 117a 117b 121 122 124 125a 131 132 135 138 142 143 146 148 See also: http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/dmitrismirnov TWO SONATINAS for solo violin were written in 1966 and 1969 in Frunze (now Bishkek) each of them as a gift to some young violin player. The first of them has the features of a neo-classical style, and consists of Allegro, Minuet and Toccatina. The second is written in the character of Ukrainian folk songs and dances, and also has three movements: Allegro, Andantino and Vivo.DS006 TWO FUGUES for solo violin Op. 6 (1970). They were written when I was a 3rd year student of the Moscow Conservatory. Before that I already wrote two solo violin Sonatinas and First Sonata for violin and Piano. I was very enthusiastic with the counterpoint course of Vassili Rukavishnikov at the time and wrote dozens of fugues for different media. If the first solo violin Fugue (Andante) has clear tonal allusions (G minor), the second one (Moderato) is rather atonal and based on the 12-note theme, every appearance of which is played in a different way: pizzicato, staccato, portamento, trill, accent, tremolo sul ponticello, harmonics and so on. They were first performed in June 1970 in the White Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with Yaroslava Rivniak, violin. (Available on MRCD020).To see and play Score:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=53826DS008 PIANO CONCERTO No.1, Op.8 (1971) was my diploma work for graduation at the Moscow Conservatory. It is a 3-movement composition with many typical features of a romantique piano concerto: virtuoso cadenzas, the sonata form as the first movement, the theme with variations as the slow second one and the sonata rondo as the finale. In spite of the quite strict use of the12-tone technique the music has clear tonal implications with E Minor as the main key. The first performance took place on 21st of June 1972 at the Metrostroi Club in Moscow with the soloist Natalia Pankova and the Moscow State Orchestra conducted by Veronika Dudarova.
(Available on MRCD028).ETERNAL REFUGE for voice and chamber orchestra Op.10 (1972, rev 1981) 10'. Text: Mikhail Bulgakov (R). M (or Bar), perc–org–strings (4.3.3.2.1). FP: 31 January 1982, Philharmonic Hall, Tula, Irina Muratova (soprano), Yuri Nikolajevski (conductor). Vocal score: Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers, Moscow, 1990 in the collection "Vocal Symphonic Works" Vol.2
ETERNAL REFUGE for voice (M or Bar) and piano trio Op.10a (Version 1996, Rev. 2002) 10'. Text: Mikhail Bulgakov (R) see also works for voice and orchestra
There are at least four versions of this piece written first in 1972 a few months before I graduated the Moscow Conservatory. It is dedicated to Elena Firsova who became my wife a few months after this piece was written.
ETERNAL REFUGE for voice and chamber orchestra Op.10 (1972, rev 1981) 10'. Text: Mikhail Bulgakov (R). M (or Bar), perc–org–strings (4.3.3.2.1). FP: 31 January 1982, Philharmonic Hall, Tula, Irina Muratova (soprano), Yuri Nikolajevski (conductor). Vocal score: Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers, Moscow, 1990 in the collection "Vocal Symphonic Works" Vol.2
ETERNAL REFUGE for voice (M or Bar) Op10a (Version 1996, Rev2002) 10'. Text: Mikhail Bulgakov (R, see also VOICE AND ORCHESTRA) FP: 14 January 2003, 7.30 p.m. Musikverein, Brahms Hall, Vienna, Wolfgang Holzmair & Altenberg Trio
STRING QUARTET No1 Op11 1973, Rev1994 18' min. I wrote my First Quartet in 1973, a year after my graduating from the Moscow Conservatoire. It has four movements:
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Scherzo, Allegro
4. Lento
The first performance took place on 18th of March 1975 at the Union of Composers, Moscow, played by the BSO String Quartet with Arkady Futer (the first violin).
AMONG THE STARS (Six Haiku by Kobayashi Issa) for voice, flute(= piccolo) and piano Op. 12 (1973/2002) 12'
The cycle setting six haiku (short three-line lyrics) by the Japanese poet Kobajashi Issa (1763-1827) was written in Moscow in 1973, but the first performance took place 19 years later: on 15 July 1992 at the Rosen Concert Hall, An Appalachian Summer (USA) programmed by Broyhill Chamber Ensemble with: Katherine Chesinski, mezzo-soprano; Linda Chesis, flute; Brian Zeger, piano. The duration is about 10 minutes. The last version was created in 2002 for alto voice.1. The Ant Path, 2. Cuckoo, 3. Make Way! 4. Cicada, 5. The Bell, and 6. The Snail. The last poem is especially famous:
FP: 15 July 1992, Rosen Concert Hall, An Appalachian Summer (USA) with Broyhill Chamber Ensemble Katherine Chesinski, mezzo-soprano, Linda Chesis, flute and Brian Zeger, piano. (Available on MRCD022a).Slowly, slowly creep along
The slope of Fuji, O Snail
Up to the very top of the mountain!To see and play the Scores:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45233
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45234
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45235
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45237
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45238
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45239
See also: http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/dmitrismirnovSONATA for flute and harp Op.16 (1975). In June 1975 I was asked to write a piece for flute and harp to add to the collection of the Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers. In a few days I completed the one-movement lyrical piece, only 6 minutes long, but the character of the music and the outlines of the sonata form justified the chosen title "Sonata". It was premiered on 6th October 1975 at the Union of Composers in Moscow by Alexander Poplavski (flute) and Vera Savina (harp). I remember Alfred Schnittke told me after the concert: "Nobody writes like this anymore, but nevertheless you have succeeded," – meaning that in our times of "polystylism" such strictness and sterility of style sounds a bit old-fashioned.(Available on MRCD0026). SOLO FOR HARP Op.19 (1996). The harpist Tatiana Vymiatnina, at that time still a student of professor Vera Dulova, asked me to write a solo piece for the International Week of the Harp in Maastricht (Holland) where she was going to participate. Unexpectedly there was a competition too, where she won the first prize for the presentation of a new solo piece. The prizes were divided between the players and composers. So suddenly I became the winner of the International Composers' Competition. (Available on MRCD0026). TRIPLE CONCERTO Op. 21 (1977) for alto saxophone, piano, double bass, strings and percussion. For the 5th anniversary of my and my wife's wedding I wrote a little piece for alto saxophone using the musical letters D-(e)S-E-F (for Dmitri Smirnov and Elena Firsova). But it was too short to be a completed and independent piece, and thinking how to develop it, I found myself working on a 3-movement concerto for 3 soloists, strings and percussion, with the lyrical first movement (Lento), 3 cadenzas as the second movement (Risoiluto), and fast Finale (Allegro). It was premiered on 26th December 1977 at the Union of Composers in Moscow with Lev Mikhailov (saxophone), Alexander Bakhchiev (piano), Ivan Kotov (double bass) and Moscow Chamber Orchestra conducted by Lev Markiz. (Available on MRCD028). PIANO TRIO No.1, Op. 23 was composed in 1977 and dedicated to my teacher Edison Denisov with whom I had studied at the Moscow Conservatoire. For me Denisov was much more than a teacher of orchestration. He was one of the most inspiring musicians I have met and one of dearest friends for many years until his death in Paris on 24th November 1996. The style and technique of the trio partly reflect my passion for his music and his aesthetic, which combines courageous experimentalism with the love for almost classical balance, perfection and beauty. The three movements of the composition correspond with three different states of a musical sound, which symbolically represents here the life of a human spirit.
1. Adagio molto – the birth of the sound
2. Allegro – its active and expressive life
3. Lento (Dies Irae theme with variations) – the ageing of the sound and its dying away
The first performance was given on 3rd November 1978 in Moscow by Evgenia Alikhanova violin, Vladimir Tonkha cello and Tigran Alikhanov piano. (Available on MRCD017, MRCD0026).PIANO CONCERTO No.2, Op.24 (1978), is written for piano and string orchestra. It is one movement piece on a series of growing intervals: semitone, 2 semitones, 3 and so on. It combines the sonata form and variations in one. The Concerto is dedicated to Vasili Lobanov, who premiered it on 25th December 1978 at the Union of Composers in Moscow with the Orchestra of Radio and TV USSR conducted by Vladimir Kozhukhar. In the score published by Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers in Moscow, 1985 it was printed together with the cadenza written by Lobanov, which still has never been played. (Available on MRCD028). SONATA No.2 for violin and piano Op. 26 (1979) It is a 10 minute long one-movement piece based on the 12-note theme, which is almost identical to the opening theme of "Faust Symphony" by Franz Liszt but treated in a very different way. I was fascinated with my discovery that its modification can produce the theme "BACH" (Bb-A-C-B). The Sonata was written as a birthday present to my wife, composer Elena Firsova, and dedicated to her. The premiere was played 26th of December 1979 at the Gnessiny Concert Hall, Moscow with Eugenia Alikhanova, violin and Tigran Alikhanov, piano. (Available on MRCD020). SYMPHONY No.1 "The Seasons", Op. 30 (1980). As well as many Symphonies by Gustav Mahler this one was grown out of the vocal music. The whole musical material was taken from "The Seasons" Op.28 for voice, flute, viola and harp setting four earliest William Blake's poems. But in the Symphony there are no words or voices, and the four seasons (from the Spring to the Winter) are depicted by pure orchestral means. The Symphony has four movements and dedicated to the memory of William Blake. It was premiered on 8th of September 1981at the Philharmonic Hall in Riga by Latvian State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vasily Sinaisky.(Available on MRCD006 and MRCD027). FPLAY (mp3): the beginning ADAGIOSISSIMO for violin, viola and harp Op.36b (version 1977) was written for the Melodiya Chamber Ensemble (Berkely, California). It is one more version of the 3rd Movement from the "Capriccio sopra lontananza del tratello delittissimo" BWV 992 by J.S.Bach, which I arranged quite a few times for different instrumentations. It is fascinating that in this short passacaglia-like piece Bach wrote only the melody and bass leaving the player to chose his own harmony and counterpoint, which was one of my preoccupations here. The piece was first played on 5th of April 1998 at The Valley Presbyterian Church, near San Francisco by Adolf Bruk, Sergei Rakitchenkov and Olga Ortenberg. (Available on MRCD0026). To see and play piano version score:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=44904DS037 FAREWELL SONG for viola and harp Op.37 (1982) was written for my friends violist Sergei Rakitchenkov and his wife harpist Olga Ortenberg immediately after I learned that they had decided to leave Russia forever. It was a feeling that everybody is going away, all our close friends and all excellent musicians, leaving us in a desert. The feeling of loss dominates the character of the piece. I also used the "musical letters" of their names in their parts, bidding by this a symbolical farewell to them. They played it for the first time on 4th October 1982 at the Union of Composers in Moscow. (Available on MRCD0026).
TIRIEL-PROLOGUE Op. 41a (1983). I was in the middle of writing of the first act of my opera Tiriel on a very sombre William Blake's early prophetic poem, when I have been asked to write a piece for baritone saxophone and piano. So I decided to "kill two birds with one stone". I was working on the saxophone piece having in mind its orchestral version, the Symphony Prologue to the opera based on its final Cradle Song setting a beautiful Blake's poem from his draft manuscript full of under-meaning and sweet bitterness. The prologue was first performed on 30th of October 1984 at the Bolshoi Hall of Moscow Conservatoire with the State Symphony Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. (Available on MRCD006, or MRCD23/24). TIRIEL, a Poem for Cello and Piano Op.41c (1984, rev. 1993) is one of the chamber versions of a Symphony Prologue (or Tiriel-Prologue Op.41a, 1983) for the opera. (Available on MRCD23/24). TIRIEL Op. 41 – An opera (1983-5) 2 hours, libretto by Dmitri Smirnov (English and Russian) after William Blake (E, R, German translation for the world premiere by Paul Estergházy) FP: 28 January 1989, Stattheater, Freiburg (Germany), Siegfried Shoenbohm (director), Gerchard Markson (conductor). 7 singers, male chorus, dancers, 3.3.3.2sax.3–4.3.3.1–perc–cel–harp–strings In Blake's "Tiriel" I see an analogy with the history of mankind, which is if it isn't able to conquer its own vices it may come to self-destruction.The opera in 3 acts (9 scenes) with the Symphony Prologue lasts about two hours. It is scored for 7 soloists (2 sopranos, mezzo-soprano, 2 tenors, baritone and bass), male (or mixed) chorus, ballet group and large symphony orchestra (3.3.3.2sax.3–4.3.3.1–percussion–celesta–harp–strings).
It is based on the first Prophetic Book of the same title written by William Blake around 1789. This phantasmagoria on the theme of the death of an old blind king and tyrant-father can be read at several levels. After the Symphony Prologue based on the music ideas of the final "Cradle Song" the First Scene opens with the leitmotiv of Tiriel's curse:It is set at the time of the dawn of human history. The blind and aged king, Tiriel, brings his dying wife to his former palace and calls down curses on his sons who he has summoned to observe their mother’s death. The sons bury their mother, but declare that they have tired of their father’s tyranny and will now rebel against it. So Tiriel sets off wandering into the mountains. Eventually he comes to the ‘pleasant gardens’ in the Vales of Har, where he finds his own parents, Har and Heva, who are both quite senile and have become like children again. They invite Tiriel to help them catch birds and listen to Har’s singing in the ‘great cage’. In madness and dismay, Tiriel abandons them and sets out further on his wanderings."Accursed race of Tiriel! behold, behold your father.
Come forth and look on her that bore you! come, you accursed sons!"
Tiriel’s wild brother Ijim finds Tiriel, captures him and takes him back to his children. Tiriel, ever madder and more enraged, curses his children yet more passionately and his curses result in death. By doing so Tiriel drives his daughter Hela mad and her hair turns into snakes. Nonetheless it is Hela who must guide Tiriel back to his parents in the Vales of Har.
On the way through the mountains they pass caves, which are the home of another of Tiriel’s brothers, Zazel. Zazel, together with his sons, hurls dirt and stones at Tiriel and his daughter. Eventually Tiriel and Hela arrive once more at the tent in the Vales of Har, where Har and Heva live. In a final speech, Tiriel explains how his father’s laws and his own wisdom now ‘end together in a curse’. And he dies at his parents’ feet. Over Tiriel’s body the goddess Mnetha sings a prophetic lullaby to mankind who now sleeps forever.In the libretto of the opera the five separate poems by William Blake were added to the text of TIRIEL: INTRODUCTION (Piping down the valleys wild… Scene II) and THE DIVINE IMAGE (To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love… Scene IX) from "Songs of Innocence"; THE TYGER (Tyger! Tyger! burning bright… Scene IV) and A DIVINE IMAGE (Cruelty has a human heart… Scene VIII) from "Songs of Experience" and A CRADLE SONG (Sleep, Sleep, beauty bright… the very end of the opera) from so called "The Rossetti Manuscript".Sleep, Sleep, beauty bright
Dreaming o'er the joys of night,
Sleep, Sleep: in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit & weep.Sweet Babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace
Secret joys and secret smiles
Little pretty infant wiles.As thy softest limbs I feel
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek & o'er thy breast
Where thy little heart does rest.O, the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep,
When thy little heart does wake,
Then the dreadful lightning break.From thy cheek & from thy eye
O'er the youthful harvest nigh
Infant wiles & infant smiles
Heaven & Earth of peace beguiles.
The world premiere took place on the 28th of January 1989 at the Stadttheater in Freiburg (Germany) with Siegfried Shoenbohm (director) and Gerchard Markson (conductor).
(Available on MRCD23/24).SECOND QUARTET, Op. 42 (1985). This is the Quartet of two cradlesongs. The first one "Schlafe, mein Prinzcen", which has been often attributed to Mozart (K.350) but actually written by Berngard Flies, is the basis of the first movement. I know it since my early childhood, when my mother sang it to me.The second cradlesong, which I took from my opera "Tiriel," shapes the second movement. This sets "Sleep, sleep! beauty bright…" – a poem of William Blake. The Quartet is dedicated to my son Philip who had just been born at the time. (Available on MRCD018). PARTITA for solo violin Op.43 (1985). It was commissioned by Mikhail Goldstein and dedicated to the 3rd centenary of the birth of Georg Friedrich Händel. It consists of 5 movements playing with no break between them: Prelude, Rondo, Interlude, Chaconne, Postlude. By musical means I tried to tell the story of a meeting and conversation between Handel and Bach (which never happened in reality). I took the theme of Chaconne with 12 variations from Handel's piano Chaconne G Major. It was a striking fact that in the first notes of it (H-A-E-D-E) one can recognise the name of Handel. The first performance took place 7th of December 1987 in New York with Gabriel Schaff, violin. (Available on MRCD020). THEL (The Lamentations of Thel) – Chamber opera Op. 45 (1986) 52'
Libretto by Dmitri Smirnov after William Blake (E or R) FP: 9 June 1989, Almeida Theatre, London, by Theatre de Complicite, Annabel Arden (director), Jeremy Arden (conductor). 4 singers, chamber chorus, 1.1.1.1–1.1.1.0–perc (3)–cel (=hpd)–harp–strings (1.1.1.1.1). © Boosey & Hawkes
Immediately after completing my large Blake opera "Tiriel" (1985), I wrote my chamber opera "Thel" (or "The Lamentation of Thel") based on the very early poem by Blake "The Book of Thel" (1789). There are points of dialogue between two works. And they are interconnected through the common idea of search for a meaning to life, through the place where the action is set, the Valleys of Har – a creation of Blake's imagination – and also through the similarity of the music material. In the first instance, hovewer, we are dealing with a dramatic tragedy, an illustration of the forces of evil which brings death and destruction to the world, whereas in the second we have an intimate and lyrical parable-pastorale.
The daughters of Mne Seraphim are all shepherdesses in the Vales of Har… apart from the youngest. Thel (so-called from the Greek word meaning ‘desire’ or ‘will’) spends her time wandering on her own for she is trying to find the answer to the question that torments her: why does the springtime of life inevitably fade and why do all things end?. She meets the Lily of the Valley who tries to comfort her. When Thel remains uncomforted, the Lily sends her on to ask the Cloud. The Cloud explains that he is part of a natural process and, although he sometimes disappears, he is never gone forever. Thel replies that she is not like the Cloud and when she disappears she will not return. So the Cloud suggests asking the same question of the Worm. The Worm is still a child and cannot answer. Instead it is the Worm’s mother, the Clod of Clay, who answers. The Clod explains that we do not live for ourselves, but for others. She invites Thel to enter into her underground realm and see the places of the dead where Thel herself will one day be. Once there, however, Thel is assailed by mysterious voices asking a whole series of yet more terrible questions of existence. Uttering a shriek, she flees back to her home in the Vales of Har.
The four main characters: Thel (soprano), The Lily of the Valley (boy soprano), The Cloud (counter-tenor) and The Clod of Clay (contralto). The Worm is represented by mime. The voice of Underworld is a chamber choir. All this is to the accompaniment of an ensemble of 17 instruments. (Available on MRCD022a)
FPLAY (mp3): Prologue, the beginningMOZART-VARIATIONS Op. 47 (1987) for Symphony Orchestra 1.2.2.2-.2.0.0.0-strings. Duration 14' FP: 14 February 1988, Union of Composers, Moscow, State Symphony Orchestra of Cinematography, Emin Khachaturyan (conductor)
The opening passage of the development section in the Finale of the G minor Symphony by Mozart (K.550, 1788) is one of the most striking examples of conscious use of the idea of 12-tone technique which was invented only 135 years later and dominated almost all 20th century. If to omit a few repeated notes, we will receive the row: Bb-D-F-A-Db-C-E-G#-B-Eb-F#, in which only one note is missed: "G" – the keynote of the Symphony. And for that was a special reason to be as far away as possible from the tonal centre of the piece particularly here at this point of the form.
This 8-bar passage I took as the first music idea (A) for my cycle of variations and the next two bars as the second idea (B). Both themes and 35 contrast variations outline the contours of a sonata form. Theme A and Variation I together are forming the Main subject. Theme B and Variations II-VII represent the Transition. Variations VIII-XV constitute the Secondary subject-group and Codetta. The Development section includes Variations XVI-XXVIII. And Variations XXIX-XXXV make the Recapitulation and Coda.
The music is scored for the same Mozartian Orchestra but the Flute changes into Piccolo, Oboe II into Cor anglais, Clarinet II into Bass Clarinet and Bassoon II into Contrabassoon. Every group of the Strings is divided into 4. But for the Double Bass part the unison version (ad libitum) is provided and even a Double Bass solo can play it.
The piece had repeated performances in Russia, Germany, England and USA. W. A. Mozart and Alfred Schnittke also have used it together with music for the ballet MOZ-ART by Valerie Aris and Beate Rygiert, which was premiered on the 15th of March 1992 at Phorzheimer Stadtteater, Germany. (Available on MRCD006)
THE SEVEN ANGELS OF WILLIAM BLAKE for piano Op. 50
The composition was written in April-June 1988, and consists of eight movements:We can read about the Seven Angels of God's presence in Bible. They also appear as characters in many of William Blake's drawings and in his epic poems Milton, Four Zoas and Jerusalem where they are given the names af ancient Jewish gods and demons. Each of them has a specific personality, function and position in the immense cosmos of Blake's mythology. My aim was to provide the Seven Angels with musicals portraits. Also in the work I realized my idea of the extraction of musical material from English language itself by establishing a relationship between words and musical intervals. It was dedicated to Susan Bradshaw, who premiered it at The Glasgow Festival 23 November 1989.1. Prelude
2. Lucifer, the Morning Star
3. Molech, the executioner
4. Elochim creating Adam, Adam creating Elochim
5. Shaddai's Anger
6. Pachad's Fear
7. Jehovah appealing to Eternity
8. Jesus the Lamb
(Available on MRCD015)DS051 THE MOONLIGHT STORY, Op. 51, 1988 (Blake's Picture I). After the drawing "Malevolence" by William Blake for piccolo, bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello and double bass.
In 1799 William Blake received a commission for two watercolour compositions on the subject of "Malevolence" and "Benevolence" from the Rev Dr Trusler. The second was never realised, as the first provoked the disapproval of the reverend gentlemen who remonstrated that "…it accords not with his intentions, which are to reject all Fancy from his work." Also Blake had "supposed Malevolence without a Cause". In his response, Blake asserted hid right to follow his genius or his God Angel in Art and to give his imagination and fancy free rein. In a letter dated August 16th he unfolds his conception: "The design I have sent is: a Father, taking leave of his Wife and Child, is watch'd by two Fiends Incarnate, with the intention that when his back is turned they will murder the mother and her infant. If this is not Malevolence with Vengeance, I have never seen it on earth…"
I have long fostered the idea of expressing my impression of this Blake's drawing through music to capture its poetic spirit. And the commission from the Nash Ensemble for a chamber work served as an occasion to realise it. My acquaintance with the individual artists of the group defined my choice of instrumental formation. Each character in the drawing corresponds to a specific musical instrument. The viola, piccolo and violin (father, child and mother) represent the 'positive' characters, whereas the bass clarinet and double bass represent the two 'villains' of the piece. Lastly, the fool moon, placed at the canter of Blake's composition, shines out good and evil in equal measure and is represented by the cello.
It is desirable that for the performance the musicians are seated on stage to correspond to the configuration of the drawing. It is possible, though not essential, that the colours of the player's clothes emphasise the light colours of the 'positive' characters and the sombre colours of the 'negative' characters and neutral colour is that of the only neutral character.
The Nash Ensemble, conducted by Lionel Friend first performed the work in 1989 at Almeida Theatre.VIOLIN CONCERTO No.1 Op. 54 (1990). Sometimes a music idea can arise from a visual image. I was impressed by the picture of William Blake's "Jacob's Ladder" and in my Concerto for Violin and 13 strings you can find the musical interpretation of the visual image of ladder, of stairs, and steps leading up and down. There is also something of the character of the picture reflected in the music. Sometime later, I received a commission from the London Sinfonietta and I wrote "Jacob's Ladder" – also influenced by the same picture. The Violin Concerto was written for my own pleasure in Moscow 1n 1990, without commission and without any particular soloist in mind.
The premiere was played by Andreas Seidel, violin and the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra conducted by George Moosdorf 10th October 1993 at St Andrews Hall, Norwich, Norfolk.
(Available on MRCD006, MRCD020 and MRCD028).TRINITY MUSIC for clarinet, violin and piano Op. 57 (1990) One movement. 8'. FP: 9 March 1991, Auditorio Caja de Aviva, Pedro de Lagasca (Spain), Trio Verdehr. Publishing rights: Sikorski, Hamburg - Boosey & Hawkes, London Commissioned by Verdehr Trio ‘Trinity Music’ was written in March 1990 in Ruza near Moscow. The three instruments – clarinet, violin and piano – are treated as threefold unity like one super-instrument with a triple nature combined together the qualities of woodwind, string and keyboard. This is suppose to represent a kind of a small model of The Holy Trinity in a process of a creating the Universe. The Music is soft and quiet full of half-tints and delicate motion creating the atmosphere of contemplation and mystery. Dmitri Smirnov, 5th November 1992, Dartington
JACOB'S LADDER for 16 players Op.58 (1990) 14'. (Blake's Picture II) 1.1.1.1–1.1.1.0–perc(2)–cel–harp–string quintet. Blake’s watercolor “Jacob’s Dream” (c.1805, British Museum, London) depicts a giant spiral ladder descending from a brilliantly lit sun to Jacob, stretched out asleep on a rock. Here and there, beautiful figures of people and angels are gliding up and down the ladder; constellations appear in the blue-black sky. The musical representation of the ladder is a seductive idea and is achieved in various ways: in the introduction the ladder is depicted according to the laws of perspective (using scales based on the overtone series); in the main section, where the strings accompany the bassoon, it is depicted according to the laws of reverse perspective (using scales based on implied fundamentals); the development has a somewhat abstract character, with the absence of perspective (using scales based on fourths and tritons). The figure of Jacob is represented by a solo bassoon; the stars by bell-like metal percussion, harp and celesta; the movement of the angels by strings and wind and the words spoken by God by a bass drum. The aural fabric is made up of combination of different techniques (using motifs, modal techniques, twelve-tone rows etc.) Quasi-tonal episodes, alternating with sections, which have no definite tonality, outline the contours of sonata form. Jacob’s Ladder was the first work to be commissioned by the Michael Vyner Trust. FP: 17 April 1991, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, London Sinfonietta, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor).
A SONG OF LIBERTY, Op. 59. An oratorio for four singers, mixed chorus and orchestra on the text by William Blake. Commissioned by the Leeds Festival Chorus for their 135th Anniversary and for the Leeds City Centenary with funds provided by Leeds City Council, Leeds Festival Chorus and Yorkshire and Humberside Art.
This is my last composition I wrote in Russia before moving to England. I chose the text A Song of Liberty, the final part of Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793). The commissioner told me that C minor Mass by Mozart will be played in the same concert and asked me to use a similar instrumentation, to which I added only some percussion instruments and a harp.
This is a nine-part composition, where Blake's text is used in its entirety. The text has twenty sections distributed in the following way: movement I = section 1 of the text; movement II = section 2; movement llI = section 3 up to 'France'; movement IV = section 3 from 'France' to the end of section 6; movement V = sections 7 to 10; movement VI = section 11; movement VII = section 12; movement VIII = sections 13 to 20; movement IX = CHORUS.
The movements have no titles, but here I give the key words of the text and approximate genre of each movement:
I The Eternal Female groans (Introduction)
II Albion coast -American meadows (Passacaglia)
III Shadows of Prophecy (Soprano Aria)FPLAY (Real): Mov.3 The beginning
IV France, Spain, Rome (Canon)
V The new born terror (Fantasia I)
VI The fire (Chorale)
VII Londoner, Jew, African (Quartet)
VIII The fiery limbs (Battle of Liberty) (Fantasia II)
IX Priests of the Raven (Final Chorus).
The oratorio is concluded by the very simple but profound words: 'FOR EVERYTHING THAT LIVES IS HOLY'.
World Premiere: 30 January 1993, Leeds Town Hall, Lynne Dawson, soprano, Louise Winter (alto), Adrian Thompson, tenor, Michael George, bass, Leeds Festival Chorus, BBC Philharmonic, Jerzy Maksymiuk, conductor. (Available on MRCD0019).
(See also: Texts)THREE BLAKE SONGS for Soprano, 2 Clarinets, Viola, Cello and Double Bass Op.61 (1991-2) were written in London and Cambridge for the Mary Wiegold, soprano and The Composers' Ensemble. There are setting three poems by William Blake 1. Silent, Silent Night (from so called "Rossetti Manuscript"), 2. The Tyger (From "Songs of Experience"), and 3. To See a World (the first four line of "Auguries of Innocence" from so called "Pickering Manuscript"): FP (No.1): 20 July 1991, Cheltenham Festival, Mary Wiegold (soprano), Composers Ensemble, John Woolrich (conductor). (Nos.2-3): 13 May 1992, Dartington Hall, Mary Wiegold (soprano), Composers Ensemble, Charles Peebles (conductor). (Available on MRCD022a).To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.FOUR STUDIES (Based on the Book of Job), Op. 62 for clarinet solo were written in July 1991 in the small village of Cwm in Shropshire. The Book of Job caught my attention because of the beautiful illustrations by William Blake, and my work is in part musical commentary on them. The caption written above or below each of Blake's pictures is read first by clarinettist who then plays the melodic phrases representing these words, translated into notes by musical means, i.e. letter=note.
1. There was a Man in the Land of Uz (Ch.1:1-2)
2. The fire is fallen from Heaven (Ch.1:16)
3. Let the day perish wherein I was born (Ch. 3:3)
4. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind (Ch. 38:1-2)
Before the end, the clarinettist sings the folk tune Job (Come all you worthy Christian men) while playing a different melodic line. Listening to the first performance of the work (25 October 1991 in Ohio State University, Columbus with Bruce Curlette as soloist) I had feeling that the work is more akin to a sermon in music.THE ANGELS OF ALBION for piano Op. 64. These pieces were written in Chiswick, London between September and November 1991. The short note to the score says: "On the rocky shore of Albion I met some wonderful people, and they were like Angels. This cycle is my gratitude and tribute of profound respect for my English friends". The cycle has seven movements: 1. Birthday Elegy – Dedicated to Susan BradshawThe work is again occupied with cryptogrammic ideas, where the names of my "angels" are translated into music via a coding system (letter=musical interval). Ivan Sokolov gave the premiere of the cycle in April 1996 in Moscow. (Available on MRCD017)
2. Tew-Capriccio – To Christopher Tew
(Score: http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45098)
3. Lullaby for Gerard – To Gerard McBurney
4. Shropshire Rhapsody – To Barry Gavin
5. The Albion's Meditations – To Jeremy and Annabel Arden
6. Dream – To David Drew
7. Invocation – To Kathleen RaineABEL (BLAKE'S PICTURES III) for clarinet, violin, cello, Op. 65. Commissioned by the Chameleon Ensemble and written in Chiswick in November-December 1991, this is the third in a series of four chamber "mini-ballet" scores bearing the full title "Blake Pictures". Four figures of Blake's highly expressive tempera drawing "The body of Abel found by Adam and Eve" (c.1826, now in the Tate Gallery) correspond to the four instruments: Abel-clarinet, Eve-violin, Adam-cello, Cain-piano. Each of them is given a unique motif enabling me to attempt to grasp the spirit of the picture in musical sounds and shapes. The piece was first performed byChameleon Ensemble in Kirkwall, Orkney on 23rd June 1992. (Available on MRCD017)
THE RIVER OF LIFE for 16 players Op.66 (1992) 13'. (Blake's Picture IV) 1.1.1.1–1.1.1.0–2perc–cel–harp–string quintet. I first saw Blake’s watercolor The River of Life (c.1805) in 1991 at the Tate Gallery. Blake illustrated the opening passage of the Chapter 22 of Revelations: “And the Angel shewed me a pure river of the water of live, clear as crystal, flowing from throne of God…” Blake adds some additional figures: Christ leading two children through the stream of time towards the huge golden sun; the youth flying above them; young and old people on the two banks of the river symbolizing innocence and experience; and two musicians playing the flute and oboe. Blake once said: “The last Judgment is one of the most stupendous visions. I have represented it as saw it”, and now I could say that I have represented in as I heard it. FP: 8 November 1992, Queen Elisabeth Hall, London, London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen (conductor). DIPTYCH for organ Op.70 (1992, Rev2002) 12'. FP: 25 September 1992, Dom Cathedral, Riga, Friedemann Herz. Publishing rights: Sikorski, Hamburg -Boosey & Hawkes, London. Los and Enitharmon are the two key personages of the immense cosmos of Blake’s Mythology. Los is the symbol of Poetry; he is the creative imagination, the Prophet of Eternity. Enitharmon represents Spiritual beauty; she is his twin, the consort and inspiration of the poet Los. Sometimes Blake identified Los with himself, and Enitharmon with his wife Catherine. In my DIPTYCH, written in May 1992 in Dartington, I tried to provide the couple with musical portraits. To do this, I used the idea of extracting musical material from the English language itself by establishing a relationship between letters and musical intervals, ascending and descending: Letters represented by ascending intervals: A B C D E F G H I Kq L M
Intervals in semitones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Letters represented by descending intervals: N O P R S T U V W X Yj ZThe composition was premiered by Friedemann Herz on 25th of September 1992, at Dom Cathedral in Riga.
QUINTET for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass Op.72 (1992)
Commissioned by The Music Group of Manchester
This work is dedicated to the memory of my teacher Nikolai Nikolaevich Sidelnikov, who in his music developed the Russian folk tradition very much in Stravinsky’s taste. This could explain the style and mood of the piece. The Quintet is based on the12-tone row, which has a very clear tonal implication and consists of four triads: C Minor, E Major, B-flat Major and F-sharp Minor. The first movement is written in a quite unusual binary form, which I call “an introduction and coda”. It represents the sudden approach of death and the slow entering into another mysterious realm. The second movement is a short intermezzo depicting the images of subtlety and beauty. The Finale is the principal and most weighty movement of the cycle. It shows the memories of earthly life and has openly Russian character. It begins as a sort of a religious plain song, which interplays with the more rhythmical folk tune “The Bells of Novgorod”.PIANO SONATA No. 3 Op. 73 (1992) The Sonata was written in September 1992 in Dartington. It is two-part cycle, like my previous Piano Sonata No. 2, which was written 12 years before and 12 years after my Piano Sonata No. 1. The idea to write this Sonata came to me after reading all 10 piano sonatas of Alexander Scriabin. The first movement is a short slow introduction (Andante). The second one is more active (Con moto), and has some more or less clear features of sonata form. Just before the end it has chime like episode which, as well as choral like episode of the first movement) returns me in my imagination into Russia. (Available on MRCD015) CELLO CONCERTO Op. 74 (1992) 3.3.3.3–4.3.3.1–perc–cel–harp–strings 28'
FP: 2 May 1996, RNCM Cello Festival, Manchester
KarineGeorgian, BBC Philharmonic, Yan Pascal Tortelier (conductor). © Boosey & Hawkes
It was commissioned by the outstanding Russian cellist Karine Georgian and dedicated to her. It was written in autumn 1992 in Dartington. The starting point was the name "Karine" transcribed by musical (intervals') means, and result is almost half hour long highly dramatic piece with a strong contrast between a purely lyrical and spiritual world and a threatening, malicious and aggressive one. But it is hardly possible to tell who is the victor. The question is not resolved, and the puzzling ending gives no answer. The Concerto was premiered by Karine Georgian and BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Yan Pascal Tortelier at the Manchester Cello Festival in RNCM 2nd of May 1996. (Available on MRCD001, MRCD005a and MRCD027) FPLAY (Real): the middleMAGIC MUSIC BOX – Children Album for piano (50 pieces) Op. 77 (1965-93) 55'
(For details click here)
PLAY (Real)To see and play Scores:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=44905
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=44990
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45097
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45148
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45232
See also: http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/dmitrismirnovDSO83 THE LAMB, Op. 83 (1995) for counter-tenor and six viols on a poem by William Blake. I received the urgent commission in March 1995 from the South Bank Centre. The work had to be written in less then a week for male-alto voice and six antique viols based on In Nomine of Seven Parts by Henry Purcell, setting any poem by William Blake. The reason for this hurry was the refusal in the last moment of Harrison Birtwistle to write such a piece. Blake is my favourite poet and I was happy to use this opportunity to set one more of his poems. Before looking at the score of Purcell I had already chosen the text: The Lamb, and made the first sketches. Fortunately Purcell's music perfectly suited to my preliminary intentions and inspired me very much in the enjoyable process of composing this piece. The premiere took place on the 2nd of May 1995 at the Purcell Room, London with Michael Chance the singer and the ensemble Fretwork. (Available on MRCD0019).
FPLAY (mp3):The beginningTHE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES for piano Op. 86 (1995). This cycle was written in June-July 1995 at Keele (Staffordshire). It was followed by a research of the geometrical aspect of a circle and an attempt to find its connection with music. Three movements 1. The Circles, 2. The Wheels and 3. The Music of the Spheres are three different approaches to this connection. The first and last slow movements share the same sound spectrum, the sort of multicoloured "musical rainbow" but in the opposite ways – they are based on scales produced by the vertical section through the series of circles and the horizontal movement along the perimeter of each circle. The second movement is based on the music scales produced by the rotational movement of the circles of different size. The first time it was played by Ivan Sokolov in the Union of composers in Moscow 11th of April 1996. (Available on MRCD001 and MRCD0015) THE BRIDE IN HER GRAVE Op. 90 (1995 the vocal score) an opera in 5 scenes. Libretto by Ruth Fainlight (E) 60' Characters: Baal Shem Tov - Bass, The Bridegroom - Tenor, The Dead Wife - Alto, Followers - Men's Choir, Bride's Friends - Women's Choir.
The time is the mid 18th century and the place is the Hassidim communities of Poland. The Baal Shem Tov is a famous Hassidic teacher and rabbi, who is even capable of performing miracles. He is sometimes called the Zaddick. One day he is invited by a young man to officiate at his wedding. But on the day of the ceremony the bride-to-be is discovered dead. The young man’s first wife appears, having returned from the dead. She accuses her former husband of betraying his promise to her that he would never marry again. She demands justice from heaven. The Baal Shem Tov, however, is stronger than the dead first wife. He restores the bride-to-be to life and the wedding takes place after all. He gives his judgement which is that right is on the side of the living.IT IS ENOUGH Op. 92 (1996) for tape. This is my first attempt to work with electro-acoustic medium. The material of the composition is the opening of Bach's famous chorale "Es ist genug" (from Cantata No.60) played on piano keys and strings and also the sound of 2 small Russian (Valdai) bells, drops of rain, crystal glasses and my voice reading the English translation of the text of the chorale made by Henry S. Drinker. All of that was recorded and processed with Stereo Signal Processor Roland RSP-550. Here is the Version 5 completed 31 March 1996. (Available on MRCD001) SPELL OF CREATION Op. 93 (1996) for tape. I was very much attracted with poetry of Kathleen Raine and especially with the way my 10-years-old daughter Alissa read it to me. I recorded her reading and singing, and also the singing of birds outside my window and a few passages on electric organ and then worked in the Electro-acoustic studio at the Keele University for about a couple of weeks. The last 7th version of the work presented here was completed 13th April 1996. I sent the tape to Kathleen Raine and she was pleased with the piece and especially with the Alissa's reading of her poetry. Here is the poem: (click here). (Available on MRCD001)FPLAY (mp3): the middle WEDDING COCK-TAIL Op. 94 (1996) for tape. This musical joke No.4 is my wedding present to my close friends Gerard and Alison McBurney. It is a sort of potpourri with many ingredients including the fragments of music by Mahler and Mendelsohn, Beethoven and Mozart, Johann Strauss and Offenbach, Shostakovich and Khachaturian, Wagner andWebern, Peter Maxwell Davies and Gerard McBurney himself. (Available on MRCD001) DUMKA Op.95 for violin and piano. The title of this work, written in Keele in June 1996, means "a short meditation" or "a short ballad". My music is seldom based on folk tones, but here the listener could catch a hint of the Russian song "Vesyolyi Razgovor" ("Merry Talk"), a striking example of black humour – its text and tune not merry at all, but incredibly sad. The piece was written for two pupils of Alleyn's School in Dulwich, Kate Robinson and Ben Wallfish, who first played it there on 17th June 1997. Later I used both themes of the piece for the music to TV film "GULAG". (Available on MRCD017 or MRCD020).
To see and play Score:http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=44309SPECTRUM OF SPRING for flute, piano, violin, viola and cello Op. 96 was written especially for Moscow Ensemble "Studio of New Music" in 1996 at Keele (England). It is one-movement piece about 10 minutes long, where I tried to express musically the mood, feelings and colours of springtime. By the way, the piece was completed in October, and when I listened the tape of the first performance, I was almost convinced that if it is a spring, it is rather a spring in the light of autumn. The first performance took place on 10 January 1997, Gent, Moscow Ensemble "Studio of New Music", Igor Dronov (conductor) ELEGY on Memory of Edison Denisov, Op. 97 (1997) for solo cello and 3 crystal glasses. I was deeply shocked at the news about the death of my teacher and friend Edison Denisov in Paris on 24th November 1996. All the time I thought about him and, constantly repeating his name, I tried to pronounce it also by musical means. So the piece for solo cello and 3 crystal glasses came to existence spontaneously. Later I recomposed it for ensemble of 16 players Op. 97b. My intention was to play both pieces in the same programme, but with some other pieces in between. The solo cello version was premiered 24th November 1997 in Maly Hall of Moscow Conservatory by Maxim Zolotarenko, cello. The ensemble version was premiered at the same evening in Paris with Ensemble Erwartung, conducted by Bernard Desgraupes.(Available on MRCD0026)
THE SONG OF SONGS, Op. 101 (1997). Cantata for soprano, tenor, mixed chorus and large symphony orchestra. It was commissioned by La Fondation Initiative Russe pour la Culture and is dedicated to the Associacion Genovese des Amis de L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. It was written between the 11th of May and 11th of July 1997 at Keele and was based on the Russian version of the biblical text of Song of Solomon. There are seven movements in the cantata:
I Prelude (orchestra)
II Song of Young Women (soprano, women chorus, and orchestra) "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth…" (Ch.1: 1-3)
III Interlude (orchestra)
IV Song of Young Men (tenor, men chorus, and orchestra) "Behold, thou art fair, my love…" (Ch.4: 1-7)
V Duet (soprano, tenor, and orchestra) "I sleep, but my heart waketh…" (Ch.5: 2-8)
VI Chorus (chorus, orchestra) "What is thy beloved more than another beloved…" (Ch.5: 9)
VII Finale (tutti) "Set me as a seal upon thine heart…" (Ch.8: 6-7).
World Premiere: 14 October 1998, Victoria Hall, Geneva with: Iana Ivanilova, soprano; Vitali Tarashchenko, tenor; Le Motet de Genève; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Guillaume Tourniare, conductor.
(Available on MRCD0019).
FPLAY (Real): Mov. 5 The beginning
FPLAY (mp3): Mov.6 The beginningBETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, for 22 String Instruments Op. 104. Commissioned by Nieuw Sinfonietta, Amsterdam and English String Orchestra. Written between August and October 1997, between Russia and England (Moscow-Keele) Duration is about 20’.
Everybody is familiar with the feeling of Odyssey (or Ulysses), trying to escape deadly frightening monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Here I was thinking about very different sorts of monsters: moral, political, philosophical and other dangers of our life, which also include the task how to avoid two monstrous music extremes: total control and anarchy. The balancing between them is created the three-movement composition: Andante - Con moto - Lento, mesto. It begins with “Dawn”, dedication to John Dunstable (c.1340-1453). The movement is ending with the quotation from his motet “Albanus Roseo Rutilat” which has been written, how they said, in St Albans, the place where I am living now. It finishes with “Twilight”, dedication to Guillaume Dufai (c.1400-1474). This last movement is opening with the quotation of his antiphon “Ave Regina Celorum”, which was intended to be sung at his deathbed. Between them is placed the movement called “Waves” something like “Sea Interlude” functioning as the Channel between England and Holland, and filled with a huge number of water images. For example, in its last tutti-episode we can hear simultaneously the images of 22 sea gods or goddess, fantastic creatures and heroes including Odyssey himself played by 1st Cello steering his boat between Scylla (2nd Double-bass) and Charybdis (1st Violin).SIXTH QUARTET, Op. 106 (1998). Commissioned by the Brodsky Quartet with funds provided by the Arts Council of England on the occasion of the bicentenary anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 18 quartets. It has two movements. The first one "Serenata Notturna" is a lyrical and mystical portrait of Beethoven based on the letters of his name. The second one "Un Ballo in Maschera" or "Aufforderung zum Tanze" is sort of a brief history of music. The Calling motive of the second theme from the 1st movement of Op.18 No.5 is the image of Beethoven himself acting here as a master of the ball. He invites to the turbulent dancing party dozens of composers from Bach and Handel to Boulez, Stockhausen and even younger our contemporaries, predecessors and sussessors of him. The Coda, consisting of several intertwining quotations from the same Beethoven's Quartet, returns a listener to the mysterious and lyrical images of the first movement. (Available on MRCD018). “Es ist…” (SONATA for Violin and Piano No.3) Op.109 was completed on 21st of June 1998 in St Albans, but its idea came to me a few years earlier when my family and I lived at Keele. That time I tried to develop the idea of so-called perfect chords (chords created with all different intervals). I began this exploration with my own harmonisation by these chords of the famous Bach’s Chorale “Es ist genug”. Returning later to this idea I expanded it into three-movement Violin Sonata with quite virtuoso violin part. Sonata is dedicated to the memory of my father-in-law, the famous physicist Oleg Borisovich Firsov, who was born 13 June 1915 in St Petersburg and died 2 April 1998 in Moscow. The Sonata has never been publicly performed yet and first time it was sounded at the recording session on 20th of August at the 1st Studio of the Moscow Radio played by Patricia Kopachinskaia (violin) and Ivan Sokolov (piano).
OPUS 111, for Clarinet Cello and Piano (1998). This work was written in St Albans in July 1998 with my 50th birthday approaching, as some kind of self-portrait. After a short slow introduction based on the letters of my own name the fast movement represents a brief story of my life. Three instruments (clarinet, cello and piano) quote fragments of themes drawn from all my principal compositions, entangling them together. The British National Anthem, slowly played by the piano, is accompanied by quotations of my works written in England. When all 110 opuses have passed, a clarinet with pizzicato cello accompaniment plays music from my first piece written in 1963. The work concludes with the sounding of slow mysterious chime. (Available on MRCD017) POSTLUDE in Memory of Alfred Schnittke for solo violin, Op.112 (1998) Schnittke died on 3rd August 1998. A few days later I attended Schnittke's funeral in Moscow. On the way home afterwards I immediately had an idea for the memorial tribute to a composer whom I had known and admired nearly all my musical life. The Postlude is in three sections. The outer two play only with musical letters from Alfred Schnittke's name, the contrasting middle section spells out the names of about twenty composers whose influences I imagine were extremely important for Schnittke. These begin with Bach and include Brahms, Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Shoenberg, Berg, Webern, Shostakovich, ending with Beethoven. Premiere was played with Kirstin Strange, violin, at Royal Academy of Music, London on 29th of January 1999. (Available on MRCD020) LOVE STORY (LOVE)for organ Op.116 (from The Sketches to "Othello-Music", 1999) 5'
In 1999 I was invited as the music director for the very unusual staging of “Othello” (at the Battersea Art Centre, London, director Tom Morris): the actors instead of pronouncing the Shakespearean text had to play their musical instruments improvising, and my task was to provide the music ideas, the material for their improvisation. I made a number of sketches and some of them were quite developed. Thus this piece for solo organ was written. It speaks about the passionate love of Othello and Desdemona in a very romantic mood and style with rich and lavish harmony and with some tragic prediction at the end. This music was not played during that staging, and still never been performed (D.S. January 2003)Dmitri Shostakovich: QUARTET No.8, 0p.110 (1969/1999) Transcription for wind ensemble (2 Oboi, 2 Clarinetti, 2 Fagotti, 2 Corni, Contrabasso) by Dmitri Smirnov 1. Largo (attacca)In July 1960 Dmitri Shostakovich went to East Germany to write the music to the film about the 2nd World War "5 Days and 5 Nights". But instead he composed his 8th String Quartet in 5 movements in which he used his monogram DSCH as the main theme and quoted his favourite themes from his own 1st, 8th and 10th Symphonies, the Piano Trio, 1st Cello concerto and opera "Lady Macbeth". Also he quoted the Funeral March from Wagner's "Götterdämmerung", the 2nd theme from 6th Symphony by Tchaikovsky and folk dirge "Tormented by Grievous Bondage". Shostakovich treated the piece as a Requiem to himself and was really going to commit suicide after the great shame of his life: he had been pressurised to join the Communist Party just a week before. The music is very tragic, profound and powerful as well as incredibly moving. Shostakovich wrote to his friend Isaak Glikman: "while composing it, my tears flowed as abundantly as urine after downing half a dozen beers." The Quartet was played at his funeral ceremony on the 14th of August 1975. Rudolf Barshai made a well-known orchestration of it for string orchestra. I am very grateful to the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble for giving me an opportunity to do this transcription for wind ensemble. The duration is about 21 minutes.
2. Allegro molto (attacca)
3. Allegretto (attacca)
4. Largo (attacca)
5. Largo
This is the program note to the concerts of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble on 21,21 and 24 March.Edison Denisov/Dmitri Smirnov: SONATA (1970/2001) for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (Flute, 2 Oboi, 2 Clarinetti, 2 Fagotti, 2 Corni, Percussion and Contrabasso)
My teacher Edison Denisov (1629-1996) in his youth (in 1950) sent to Shostakovich all his early scores and Dmitri Dmitrievich found "the great composer's gift" in them. As a respectful tribute to Shostakovich he wrote a piece named "DSCH" (1969). And it was no mere surprise that his next composition Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1970) also in three movements begins and is based on monogram of Shostakovich's name: "DSC" says the Saxophone, "H" answers the piano. The piece became one of the greatest hits of the saxophone repertoire. I met saxophonist Arno Bornkamp a couple of years ago and he said: "I adore the Denisov's Sonata. It is one of the best pieces written for saxophone. I dream to play it with orchestra as a saxophone concerto". Now this dream becomes a reality. Commissioned by the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. Duration is about 12 minutes.
This is the program note to the concerts of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble on 21,21 and 24 March 2001.PORTRAIT, Op. 121 (2000) for Wind Ensemble (Oboe, Corno inglese, Clarinetto, Clarinetto basso, Fagotto, Contrafagotto, 2 Corni, Percussion (could be played by conductor), Contrabasso). Commissioned by Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. Dedicated to the memory of Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his music were very important for me all my life. So I decided to paint a musical portrait of him. As a starting point I took his monogram "DSCH" (re, mi-bemol, do, si), but arranged in an unusual way in which one can recognise the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue Op.133 (which is literally identical to the Shostakovich monogram). It symbolically expresses the birth of Shostakovich 25 October 1906 and implies his spiritual connection with the great German Master. The theme "DSCH-BACH" reflects the connection with another of his great predecessors: J.S.Bach. In 24 short variations I tried to tell the story of his life a year after year by the musical means. The texture of the score is intertwined from many microscopically small quotations of Shostakovich's works. They are tangled together in strange multi-faced combinations and are merged with my own commentaries. The coda is a farewell funeral knell to the great composer died on 9th of August 1975. The duration of the piece is about 10 minutes.
This is the program note to the concerts of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble on 21,21 and 24 March.SHADOWS IN LIGHT for viola and harp Op.122 (1999). Two friends of mine who emigrated and settled in California continued play my music, asking me from time to time to write a new piece for them. At the time I was reading the book by Vassily Kandinski on the idea of light and shadows in painting, and it influenced the title and character of the piece. Sergey Rakitchenkov and Olga Ortenberg premiered the piece on 20th of April 2001 at Old First Church, San Francisco.
At about the same time I was asked by the Pyramide ensemble for a piece for 6 players. I found the idea of recomposing my duo piece SHADOWS IN LIGHT instead of writing a new one intriguing. The music in the new version (Op.122a) is the same, but the instrumentation is quite different (flute, oboe, harp and string trio) and the texture is much more elaborated. Ensemble Pyramide premiered it on 26th January 2001 at Helferei Grossmünster, Zürich. (Available on MRCD026).STRING OF DESTINY (Piano Sonata No.4) Op.124 (2000). One-movement piano Sonata No. 4 was completed on 15th of April 2000 at St Albans. I played it to my daughter Alissa Firsova whom I dedicated it. Alissa liked the piece but criticised me for the boring title. She suggested immediately “String of Destiny”, explaining that she feels the piece as an expanding string, which leads to some important point. I did not argue and accepted the new title. Alissa played the Sonata publicly for the first time on 10th of February 2001 at The St Albans Music Club. She also recorded it on CDs (Megadisc MDC-7818, Meladina MRCD-40). Shostakovich/Smirnov: ALONE-SUITE, Op. 26 (1930-31/2000) for Wind Ensemble
(Flauto, 2 Oboi, 2 Clarinetti, Saxophono alto, 2 Fagotti, 2 Corni, Tromba, Trombone, Percussion, Contrabasso)1. BeginningIn 1930-31 Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the music to the film of Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg "Odna" ("Alone") about a Leningrad schoolteacher who had gone to work in a remote village in the Altai abandoning the amenities of city life. She becomes an active fighter against kulaks (reach peasants working for personal profit). The music is full of irony and grotesque, parody and bitter jokes, but also includes some beautiful lyrical passages and deep philosophical meditations. The score consists of more then 30 movements and for my suite I selected the most vivid and important from my point of view fragments and arranged in 10-movement cycle. I used also 3 fragments which were only intended by Shostakovich for the film score, but were left unorchestrated as drafts for solo piano (Nos. 1, 2 and part of No.3). The orchestration was commissioned by Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. The total duration of the Suite is about 27 minutes.
2. Dream
3. March. The Street
4. "Ostan'sya!" ("Don't go away!")
5. The Bei takes the children to tend the
6. The Tea-Party
7. The Street-Organ
8. Galop "What a wonderful life it will be!"
9. The Snow Storm
10. Finale
This is the program note to the concerts of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble on 21,21 and 24 March 2001CACONNE Op.131 (2001) was commissioned by the Melodiya Chamber Ensemble and dedicated to them. There is a set of eleven variation of the famous Folia theme, which originally was the name of a wild Portuguese dance connected with fertility rites. During the last four centuries this extremely popular tune has been used by hundreds composers including Frescobaldi, Corelli, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Bach, Cherubini, Liszt and Rakhmaninov. To continue this glorious chain and to make an attempt to add something of your own to it – is a great and challenging task for any composer. INNOCENCE OF EXPERIENCE, Op.132 (2001) electro-acoustic work.(Available on MRCD025).
(For details and texts click here)
FPLAY No.10 The Tyger (Real)DS135 METAPLASM I for piano Op.135 (2002) 5'. This piece was commissioned by Dennis Letbetter for his sister Sharon Anderson and was completed 27th of February 2002 at St Albans. In the composition I used two musical alphabets such as the well-known Morse Code for the rhytmic organisation (see bars 46-48) and my own pitch-code, which permits to read for example the name of Sharon as the following series of notes: "d-sharp, b-natural, a, c-sharp, a, f-sharp"
To see and play Score:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=45180DS138 THE STONY PATH for soprano, cello and piano, Op.138 (2003) 1. The Stony Path 2. Farewell
I always was attracted with Russian poetry and set to music quite a few lyrics of Pushkin and Tiutchev, Blok and Mandelstam, Pasternak and Tarkovski, but for a long I was dreaming to set some of the poetry of Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), the one of the most genious Russian poets, the younger contemporary of Puskin. The both lyrics chosen for this cycle are the most famous. They were written in the last year of his short life – he was killed in a duel when he was 27. In these poems he was saying farewell to his life that he “already expected nothing from” and to his own country, shockingly naming it “the dirty Russia – the country of slaves, the country of lords”.TRI-O-TRI (Piano Trio No.3) Op.142 (2004) Commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival for the Florestan Trio
What this strange title means? This is my third piano trio that in spoken Russian pronounces “trio tri”. But I divided this with two dashes to stress the threefold structure of the piece and also the idea of symmetry: TRI-O-TRI. The piece is based on the initials letters of the names of the members of my family: D-S-E-F-A-(p)H (s=e-flat, h=b-natural), however it is rather not about the family relationships, but much wider, and reflects my today’s feelings about Russia – the country that we all left in 1991.CIPHERS Op.143 (2005) for solo piano
Cipher (or Cypher) means “zero”, “nothing” or “thing of no importance”, as well as “to calculate”, “work out by arithmetic”, but also a “code”, “monogram”, “secret or disguised way of writing”. These entire meanings suite well to these pieces, the collection of piano bagatelles, composed with the help of some musical coding systems that I developed in my music for years
STRING QUARTET No7 Op146 2005 15’ (In memory of Shostakovich) Commissioned by Cork and Cheltenham festivals
The idea of this composition came to me in a dream, in which I have heard a beautiful bird-like singing recalling one of the happiest musical themes by Dmitri Shostakovich (the very beginning of his 3rd Quartet). This sound-vision was always with me while I was working on my 7th String Quartet, a tribute to Shostakovich. The opening theme begins as a chain of descending fourths in a syncopated rhythm that form also the rest of the themes of the piece. There is only one movement in the Quartet; however it has the elements of a hidden cyclic forms including a sonata, variation-passacaglia, waltz-scherzo and rondo forms strangely entwined together. The whole work is a dream-like musical action with a complex system of symbols, images, allusions, half- and real quotations that difficult logically to explain. The actual quote from the opening of Shostakovich’s 3rd Quartet appears immediately after the main climax of the development (b.260) but then it is dissolved in high register of the instruments uncovering its strong genetic relation to the themes from Bach (the 2nd Fugue C minor from WTK) and Rimsky-Korsakov (the second movement of “Scheherazade”). The piece ends with mysterious tapping of the name “Dmitri Shostakovich” with the Morse code. FP: 27 June 2006, 20.00 West Cork Festival, Main Evening Concert - Celebrating Shostakovich 1906-2006, played by Vanbrugh Quartet.
DANSE MACABRE for solo violin op148 2005, 3 min. In memory of Dmitri Shostakovich
FP: 4 April 2006, ENO London, Zoë Beyers, vln Publ: Meladina Press. This short virtuoso piece was commissioned by Martyn Brabbins with funds provided by Simon Rayner for the launch of the Cheltenham Music Festival 2006 on Tuesday 4th of April 2006 at the ENO Sky Bar, where it was premiered by the young violinist Zoë Beyers. The piece is the set of eight variations on the 12-tone theme from Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony, Movement V “On Watch” setting the “Les Attentives I” by Guillaume Apollinaire: “In the trench he will die before nightfall, / my little soldier, whose exhausted gaze/ from behind the shelter watched day after day / for Glory.”
Dmitri Smirnov
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