Andrei Volkonsky

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

classical music and harpsichordist
. He was a key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia.

Biography

A descendant of

The Ensemble Madrigal
".

He was among the first Soviet composers who began experimenting with

exit visa
in December 1972.

"The next day I was expelled from the Union of Composers. All my concerts were cancelled. The record company was instructed not to release the records I had made…" (Andrei Volkonsky)[1]

But he was not allowed to leave the country 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 support himself.

"The Soviet authorities finally had the intelligence and wisdom to release the composer who was of no use to them in the fulfilment of their music five-year plans, who could not compose that only kind of music which was allowed in the Soviet Union… I was just a speck of dirt in the grand marble palace of the Soviet Culture." (Andrei Volkonsky)[2]

Andrei Volkonsky emigrated to the West in 1973. He first returned to Geneva, where he was born, and later settled in Aix-en-Provence (in the South of France) where he died at the age of 75. He was married (1954–1960) to the poet Helvi Jürisson (b. 05.10.1928). They had a son, prince Peeter Volkonski (Piotr Andreevitch Volkonsky) (b.12.09.1954), an acclaimed Estonian actor and rock-musician.

Ancestry

Selected works

Orchestral

  • Concerto for Orchestra (1953)
  • Capriccio for orchestra (1954)
  • Serenade to an Insect for chamber orchestra (1959)
  • Replica for small orchestra (1970)
  • Immobile for piano and orchestra (1978)

Sonata

  • Piano Sonata in B♭ Major (1949)
  • Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 8 (1955–56)

Cantata

Voice

  • Mirror Suite for soprano and 5 players: Flute, Violin, Guitar, Organ and Percussion on text by Federico García Lorca (1960)
  • Lamentations of Schchaza for soprano, Cor Anglais, Violin, Marimba, Vibrafono, and Cembalo on text by Schchaza (1961)
  • Concerto Itinérant for soprano, violin percussion and 26 instruments, text from the
    Omar Khayyám
    (1967)
  • Lied for 4 voices (1974)
  • 7 Sacred Songs for three male voices (solo or choir) (arrangement of Russian-orthodoxe liturgical songs) (1984)
  • Was noch lebt for mezzo soprano and string trio on text by Johannes Bobrowski (1985)
  • Psalm 148 for three voices (solo or choir), organ and timpani (1989)

Chorus

  • Two Japanese Songs for chorus, electric sound and percussion (1957)

Piano

  • Piano Quintet, Op. 5 (1954)
  • Fantasia for Piano (1955)
  • Musica Stricta (fantasia ricercata), Op. 11 for piano (1957)

Ensemble

  • String Quartet, Op. 6 (1955)
  • Music for 12 Instruments, Op. 12 (1957)
  • Jeu à Trois for flute, violin and harpsichord (1962)
  • Les mailles du Temps for 3 instrumental groups (1970)
  • Maqam for
    tar
    and harpsichord (1974)
  • Carrefour for ensemble (1992)

Film music

  • 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)/Три плюс два/Three Plus Two
  • Across the Cemetery (1963)/Через кладбище
  • Voyna pod kryshami (1967)/Война под крышами/The War Under the Roofs
  • Dead Season
    (1968)/Мёртвый сезон
  • Mogila Lva (1971)/Могила льва/The Lion's Grave
  • Pereprava (1987)/Переправа

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

References

  1. ^ Schwarz, Boris (1983). Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia. Indiana University Press.
  2. ^ The New York Times, 5 June 1973.

Further reading

External links
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