Elena Firsova


Elena Olegovna Firsova is a Russian composer living in the UK.

Life

Firsova was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Oleg Firsov and Viktoria Lichko. She studied music in Moscow with Alexander Pirumov, Yuri Kholopov, Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz. In 1979 she was blacklisted as one of the "Khrennikov's Seven" at the Sixth Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. She was married to the composer Smirnov (composer)|Dmitri Smirnov] and lives in the United Kingdom. Their children are Philip Firsov, and Alissa Firsova.
She has composed more than a hundred compositions in many different genres including chamber opera The [Nightingale and the Rose (Firsova)|The Nightingale and the Rose] after Oscar Wilde and Christina Rossetti, an orchestra work Augury, that includes a choral setting of William Blake's famous lines "To see the world in a grain of sand..." and Requiem to Anna Akhmatova's poem for soprano, chorus and orchestra.
Her favourite genre is a chamber cantata for solo voice and ensemble. Some of them are written to the poems by Alexander Pushkin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak and Oleg Prokofiev. However, most of them are setting the poems by her favourite poet Osip Mandelstam that include Earthly Life, Tristia, The Stone, Forest Walks, Before the Thunderstorm, Stygian Song, Secret Way, Seashell, Whirlpool, Silentium, Winter Songs, and Petrarch's Sonnets.
She received commissions from many music festivals, orchestras and ensembles including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Brodsky Quartet, Manchester Wind Orchestra, Schubert Ensemble, Freden Festival, BBC Proms, Asiago Festival, and Expo 2000. Her music is available through publishers Boosey & Hawkes, London; Hans Sikorski, Hamburg; G. Schirmer, New York.

Works

Concerto

  • Cello Concerto No. 1
  • Chamber Concerto No. 1 for flute and strings
  • Chamber Concerto No. 2
  • Violin Concerto No. 2
  • Chamber Concerto No. 3
  • Chamber Concerto No. 4 for horn and ensemble
  • Chamber Concerto No. 5
  • Chamber Concerto No. 6

    Ensembles

  • Odyssey for 7 players
  • Petrarch's Sonnets for voice and ensemble
  • Music for 12 for ensemble
  • Insomnia, for four singers
  • The Night for voice and saxophone quartet
  • Stygian Song for soprano and chamber ensemble
  • Before the Thunderstorm, cantata for soprano and ensemble
  • Black Bells for piano and ensemble
  • Piano Trio, Op. 8 9'. Trio, cl, vn, pfn, 1990, 9'. Boosey & Hawkes.

    Quartet

  • Misterioso, String Quartet No. 3
  • Amoroso, String Quartet No. 4
  • Silentium for voice and string quartet
  • Lagrimoso, String Quartet No. 5
  • String Quartet No. 6
  • Compassione, String Quartet No. 7
  • The Stone Guest, String Quartet No. 8
  • The Door is Closed, String Quartet No. 9
  • La malinconia, String Quartet No. 10
  • Purgatorio, String Quartet No. 11, completed in 2008
  • Farewell, String Quartet No. 12

    Cantata

  • The Stone, cantata for voice and symphony orchestra
  • Earthly Life, chamber cantata for soprano and ensemble
  • Forest walks, cantata for soprano and ensemble

    Orchestral

  • Augury for chorus and orchestra
  • Nostalgia for orchestra
  • Tristia, cantata for voice and chamber orchestra
  • The River of Time for chorus and chamber orchestra in memory of Edison Denisov
  • Captivity for wind orchestra
  • Leaving for string orchestra
  • Cassandra, for orchestra
  • Secret Way for voice and orchestra
  • Das erste ist vergangen for soprano, bass, mixed choir, and chamber orchestra
  • Requiem for soprano, chorus and orchestra
  • The Garden of Dreams, Homage to Dmitri Shostakovich for orchestra

    Opera

  • A Feast in Time of Plague, chamber opera after Alexander Pushkin
  • The Nightingale and [the Rose (Firsova)|The Nightingale and the Rose], chamber opera after Oscar Wilde and Christina Rossetti

    Vocal

  • Three Poems of Osip Mandelstam, for voice and piano
  • Shakespeare's Sonnets for voice and organ
  • Seashell for soprano and ensemble
  • Whirlpool for voice, flute and percussion
  • Distance for voice, clarinet and string quartet
  • No, it is not a Migraine for baritone and piano
  • The Scent of Absence for bass, flute and harp
  • Winter Songs for soprano and cello

    Solo

  • Suite for viola solo, Op. 2
  • Sonata for clarinet solo, Op. 16
  • For Slava for solo cello

    Discography

  • Misterioso, String Quartet No.3 Op.24 in: Lydian Quartet in Moscow: E. Firsova, Chaushian, Child, Lee Art and Electronics: AED 10108 Stereo
  • Amoroso, String Quartet No.4 Op.40 in: Chilingirian Quartet: Stravinsky, Schnittke, Smirnov, Roslavets, E. Firsova: Music for String Quartet, Conifer Classics 75605 512522
  • La Malinconia, String Quartet No.10 Op.84 in: Brodsky Quartet: Beethoven Op.18 and six more: Alvarez, Beamish, E. Firsova, Jegede, Smirnov, Tanaka, Vanguard Classics 99212
  • Chamber Concerto No.1 for Flute and Strings Op.19 in: Works by modern composers of Moscow: Smirnov, Bobilev, E. Firsova, Pavlenko, Artiomov, Mobile Fidelity MFCD 906
  • Cassandra for symphony orchestra Op.60 together with Sofia Gubaidulina: Pro et contra BIS CD-668 STEREO
  • The Mandelstam Cantatas Studio for New Music Moscow, Igor Dronov, conductor; Ekaterina Kichigina, soprano Megadisc MDC 7816
  • For Alissa Op. 102 in: RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉS: Rachmaninov, Smirnov, E. Firsova, A. Firsova: Alissa Firsova, piano: Vivat 109 DDD
  • * Homage to Canisy, Op.129 for Cello & Piano
  • * Lost Vision, Op. 137 for Piano Solo
  • * A Triple Portrait, Op.132, commissioned by Marsyas Trio
  • * Night Songs, Op.125 for Mezzo-Soprano, Flute & Cello
  • * Spring Sonata, Op.27 for Flute & Piano
  • * For Slava, Op.120 for Solo Cello
  • * Meditation in the Japanese Garden, Op.54 for Flute, Cello & Piano
  • * Three Poems of Osip Mandelstam, Op.23 for Soprano & Piano
  • * Tender is the Sorrow, Op.130 for Flute, String Trio and Piano in: A Triple Portrait. Chamber Music by Elena Firsova – Marsyas Trio, Meridian: CDE84635