Andrei Volkonsky


Prince Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky was a Russian composer of classical music and harpsichordist. He was a key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia.

Biography

A descendant of Volkonsky, Russian aristocratic princely family in exile, he was born in Geneva in 1933. As a child he played his improvisations to Sergei Rachmaninoff. Then he studied piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Johnny Aubert and 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 breaking some minor disciplinary rules. In 1956 Volkonsky began the career of a harpsichord and organ player. He pioneered performing renaissance and baroque music, which had hitherto not been played in the USSR. In 1965 he founded an ensemble of early music, called "The Ensemble Madrigal".
He was among the first Soviet composers who began experimenting with twelve-tone and serial techniques. An early work in this style was his piano suite "Musica Stricta". His works greatly influenced his colleagues. Composing such music at that time was an act of courage: it was a protest against the suppression of freedom, and specifically against the requirement that the composers in Soviet Russia follow the narrowly prescribed doctrines of the Socialist Realism. It is not surprising that his music, attempting at a real renewal and enrichment of the musical language in Russia, was banned from performance. Volkonsky said that he had been fighting for 25 years to establish and preserve his artistic individuality in Moscow before requesting an exit visa in December 1972.
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.
Andrei Volkonsky emigrated to the West in 1973. He first returned to Geneva, where he was born, and later settled in Aix-en-Provence where he died at the age of 75. He was married to Estonian poet and children's book author Helvi Jürisson. They had a son, Peeter Volkonski, an Estonian actor and rock-musician.

Selected works

Orchestral

Sonata

  • Piano Sonata in B Major
  • Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 8

Cantata

Rus, cantata on text by Nikolai Gogol The Face of Peace, cantata on text by Paul Éluard

Voice

Mirror Suite for soprano and 5 players: Flute, Violin, Guitar, Organ and Percussion on text by Federico García Lorca Lamentations of Schchaza for soprano, Cor Anglais, Violin, Marimba, Vibrafono, and Cembalo on text by Schchaza Concerto Itinérant for soprano, violin percussion and 26 instruments, text from the Rubayiat of Omar Khayyám Lied for 4 voices 7 Sacred Songs for three male voices Was noch lebt for mezzo soprano and string trio on text by Johannes Bobrowski Psalm 148 for three voices, organ and timpani

Chorus

Two Japanese Songs for chorus, electric sound and percussion

Piano

  • Piano Quintet, Op. 5
  • Fantasia for Piano Musica Stricta , Op. 11 for piano

Ensemble

  • String Quartet, Op. 6 Music for 12 Instruments, Op. 12 Jeu à Trois for flute, violin and harpsichord Les mailles du Temps for 3 instrumental groups Maqam for tar and harpsichord Carrefour for ensemble

Film music

  • Novye pokhozhdeniya Kota v Sapogakh /Новые похождения кота в сапогах
  • Marya-iskusnitsa /Марья-искусница/Maria, the Wonderful Weaver/The Magic Weaver
  • Priklyucheniya Krosha /Приключения Кроша/Adventures of Krosh
  • 3+2 /Три плюс два/Three Plus Two
  • Across the Cemetery /Через кладбище
  • Voyna pod kryshami /Война под крышами/The War Under the Roofs
  • Dead Season /Мёртвый сезон
  • Mogila Lva /Могила льва/The Lion's Grave
  • Pereprava /Переправа

Recordings

  • CTH 2502: ANDRE VOLKONSKY
Suite de los espejos/Spiegel-Suite/Mirror Suite/La Suite de miroirs
Federico Garcia Lorca
Les Plaintes de Shchaza/Die Klagen der Shchaza/Laments of Shchaza
Concert itinerant/Das wandernde Konzert/Wandering Concerto 30:33

Lydia Davydova, Andre Volkonsky und Solisten des Symphony Orchestra
of Leningrad Philharmonic, Leitung: Igor Blazhkov. Aufnahme: 1967
Lydia Davydova, Andre Volkonsky und Solisten des Symphony Orchestra
of Leningrad Philharmonic, Leitung: Igor Blazhkov. Aufnahme: 1965
Tatiana Marushchak, Grigory Sandomirsky, Natalia Pshenichnikova,
Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble, Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra, Leitung: Timur Mynbaev
Live-Aufnahme beim, Alternativa?" Festival Moskau im Oktober 1989