Russians…wonderful and unknown

In 20th-century music, avant-garde was not merely an aesthetic choice, but also a political stance toward the times. Three Russian composers, each occupying a very different position within the Soviet musical landscape, come together in a program that highlights the power—and, at times, the cost—of a personal artistic voice.

Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets
Sonata No. 1 for Viola and Piano

Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
Poem for Voice and Piano based on a poem by Alexander Blok

Andrei Mikhailovich Volkonsky
Sonata for Viola and Piano

Nikolai Roslavets, one of the most radical figures of the early Russian avant-garde, was marginalized beginning in the late 1920s: several of his manuscripts were lost or destroyed, and his music remained absent from concert halls for years. In the First Sonata for Viola and Piano, composed in 1926, his fluid melodic style and distinctive harmonic language create music that has been aptly described as “emerging from an Impressionist chrysalis.”

Andrei Volkonsky represents a different generation; he was one of the first Soviet composers to turn to twelve-tone music. From the opening slow viola solo to the farewell song of the finale, the Sonata for Viola and Piano, written in 1956, reveals a young composer in search of a contemporary and daring style.

In contrast, Georgy Sviridov, a student of Shostakovich and one of the most popular Soviet composers, turns to the poetry of Alexander Blok: images, memory, love, and the sense of a turbulent era come together in deeply expressive music.

Ticket price
General admission: 10 €

Program

Georgi Vasilievich Sviridov
A Russian song, vocals, piano.

Andrei Mikhailovich Volkonsky
Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 8

1. Largo

2. Allegretto…

Source: https://cultureisathens.gr/en/event/russians-wonderful-and-unknown