Rodion Shchedrin

Rodion Shchedrin with his wife, Maya Plisetskaya, in 2009

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (Russian: Родио́н Константи́нович Щедри́н, Scientific transliteration: Rodion Konstantinovič Ščedrin, Russian pronunciation: [rə̥dʲɪˌon kə̥nstɐnˌtʲinə̥vʲɪ̥ʨ ɕːɪ̥dˈrʲin]; born December 16, 1932) is a Russian composer. He was one оf the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990.

Life and Works

He was born in Moscow into a musical family—his father was a composer and teacher of music theory. He studied at the Moscow Choral School and Moscow Conservatory (graduating in 1955) under Yuri Shaporin and Nikolai Myaskovsky. Since 1958, he has been married to the great ballerina Maya Plisetskaya.

Shchedrin's early music is tonal, colourfully orchestrated and often includes snatches of folk music, while some later pieces use aleatoric and serial techniques. In the west the music of Shchedrin has won popularity mainly through the work of Mstislav Rostropovich who has made several successful recordings.

Among his works are the ballets The Little Hump-backed Horse (1955), Carmen Suite (1967), based on the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet (the project had been turned down by both Shostakovich and Khachaturian), Anna Karenina (1971, on the novel by Leo Tolstoy), and Lady with a Lapdog (1985); the operas Not Only Love (1961), and Dead Souls (1976, after Nikolai Gogol's novel); piano concertos, symphonies, chamber and piano music and other works. He composed 24 Preludes and Fugues after he heard those of Shostakovich. Also remarkable is his Polyphonic Notebook.

He has written five concertos for orchestra: the first, variously translated as Naughty Limericks or Mischievous Folk Ditties (neither of which completely get the gist of the Russian which refers to a chastushka (часту́шка), an irreverent, satirical kind of folk song) is by far the best known, and was the work which first established him on the international stage. The second of the Concertos for Orchestra was subtitled Zvony (The Chimes), and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein as one of the many commissions in honor of the orchestra's 125th anniversary. The third Concerto for Orchestra is based on old music of Russian provincial circuses. Concerto 4, Khorovody (round dances), was written in 1989, and Concerto 5, Four Russian Songs, was written in 1998.

As well as a distinguished compositional career (for which he was made a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1989 and received the Russian State Prize from President Boris Yeltsin in 1992), Shchedrin is himself a virtuoso pianist and organist, taking the piano part in person for the premieres of the first three of his six piano concertos. At a remarkable concert on 5 May 1974 Shchedrin performed the feat of appearing as soloist in all three of his then-completed piano concertos, one after the other. The concert, with the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Evgeny Svetlanov was recorded and released on LP, then CD. Following the collapse of the Soviet regime, Shchedrin has taken advantage of the new opportunities for international travel and musical collaboration, and now largely divides his time between Munich and Moscow.

On June 11–14, 2008 Shchedrin Days took place in Armenia with the participation of Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya as honorary guest.

Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 19th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2009. He and his wife attended the concerts which included his Russian liturgy The Sealed Angel for choir and flute, performed in Eberbach Abbey. His chamber music included Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk Songs (2007) with the cellist Raphael Wallfish and himself at the piano, and Meine Zeit, mein Raubtier with tenor Kenneth Tarver and pianist Roland Pontinen who performed it also at the Verbier Festival.

The premiere of a German version of his opera Lolita was performed as the opening night of the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden in a production of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Selected works

Operas

• Not Love Alone (Не только любовь) (1961)
• Lenin Oratory (Оратория Ленина), a cantata (1972)
• Dead Souls (Мёртвые души), after Nikolai Gogol (1977)
• Lolita (Лолита) (1992)
• The Enchanted Wanderer (Очарованный странник) (2002)
• Boyarinya Morozova (Боярыня Морозова) (2006)

Ballets

• The Little Humpbacked Horse (1955)
• Carmen (1967)
• Anna Karenina (1968)
• The Seagull (Чайкa) (in 2 acts) after Anton Chekhov's play (1980)
• Lady with a Lapdog (1985)

Orchestral works

• Symphony No. 1 (1958)
• Not Love Alone, symphonic suite from the opera (1964)
• Symphony No. 2, "Twenty-five Preludes for Orchestra" (1965)
• Solemn Overture (1982)
• Seagull Suite (1984)
• Stihira, "Hymn for the Millenary of the Christianisation of Russia" (1987)

Concertos and concertante works

• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1954)
• Concerto for Orchestra No. 1, Naughty Limericks (1963)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 (1966)
• Concerto for Orchestra No. 2, The Chimes (1968)
• Piano Concerto No. 3 (1973)
• Concerto for Orchestra No. 3, Old Russian Circus Music (1988)
• Concerto for Orchestra No. 4, Khorovody (1989)
• Piano Concerto No. 4 (1991)
• Cello Concerto, Sotto Voce (1994)
• Viola Concerto, Concerto Dolce (1997)
• Violin Concerto, Concerto Cantabile (1998)
• Concerto for Orchestra No. 5, Four Russian Songs (1998)
• Piano Concerto No. 5 (1999)
• Piano Concerto No. 6 (2003)
• Oboe Concerto (2010)
• Double Concerto for piano and cello (2011)

Liturgical works

• The Sealed Angel (choral music after Nikolai Leskov), 1988

Chamber ensemble

• Muzïkal'noye prinosheniye (A Musical Offering) for 3 flutes, 3 bassoons, 3 trombones, and organ (1983)

Chamber music

• Drei heitere Stücke (Three funny pieces) for piano trio (1997)
  • Gespräche (Conversations)
  • Spielen wir eine Oper von Rossini (Let's Play an Opera by Rossini)
  • Humoreske
• Menuhin Sonata for violin and piano (1999)
• Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk Songs for cello and piano (2007)

Vocal music

• Meine Zeit, mein Raubtier, vocal cycle after Osip Mandelstam for recitation, tenor and piano (2002)

Solo piano

• Piano Pieces (1952–1961)
  • Poem
  • Four Pieces from the ballet "The Humpbacked Horse"
  • Humoresque
  • Imitating Albéniz
  • Troika
  • Two Polyphonic Pieces (Two Part Invention and Basso Ostinato)
• Piano Sonata (1962)
• Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues (1964–1970)
• Polyphonic Notebook, twenty-five preludes (1972)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1997)
• Diary, seven pieces (2002)
• Sonatine Concertante (2005)
• A la Pizzicato (2005)

Solo Violin

• In the Style of Albéniz op. 52 (1973)
• Echo Sonata, op. 69 (1984)
• Balalajka (1998)
• Duets (2000)

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
  • 2nd class (3 December 2007) - for outstanding contributions to the development of national music and many years of creative activity
  • 3rd class (2 December 2002) - for outstanding contribution to the development of musical art
• State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and Art in 1992 (25 December 1992) - for the choral music of "The Sealed Angel" by N. Leskov
• Lenin Prize (1984) - for the opera "Merv Soul" (1977), a poem for chorus "Execution of Pugachev" (1981), "The solemn overture" for symphony orchestra
• USSR State Prize (1972) - for the oratorio "Lenin in the heart of the popular" and the opera "Not only is love" (61, new edition)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1976)
• People's Artist of USSR (1981)
• Imperial Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class (12 February 2010) as a reward of merit to the Fatherland
• Shostakovich Award (Russia, 1992)
• Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum (Davos, 1995)
• Grammy Awards
• Corresponding Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (1976)
• Honorary member of the Franz Liszt Society (USA, 1979)
• Honorary member of the GDR Academy of Fine Arts (1982)
• Honorary member of the International Music Council (1985)
• Member of the Berlin Academy of Arts (1989)
• Honorary Professor of Moscow Conservatory (1997)
• "Composer of the Year" (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, 2002)
• Ovation Award (2008)

External links

• Rodion Shchedrin on the Sikorski website (publisher): portrait, biography (pdf) and works
• Rodion Shchedrin
• 'David Fanning on Rodion Shchedrin and his Second Symphony and Rodion Shchedrin on David Fanning's publication'
• Rodion Shchedrin interview by Bruce Duffie
• Ismene Brown: theartsdesk Q&A: Composer Rodion Shchedrin theartsdesk.com 18 September 2010