THE VOICE OF RUSSIA [VIS-A-VIS with the world](Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
COMPOSER TIKHONKHRENNIKOV - THE GUEST OF The guest of the latest edition of the programme Vis-a-vis of the Voice of Russia was the famous Russian composer, TikhonKhrennikov.
The Soviet people and the leadership liked Khrennikov's songs, mainly his music to the films made during the war such as the films about loyalty and love: "The Pig-tender and the Shepherd" and "At 6 o'clock in the evening after the war".
Tikhon Krennikov says: "The Pig-tender and the Shepherd" was a very popular film at that time.
All those attacked by Khrennikov in 1948 knew their careers were stymied, and until Stalin's death they lived in constant expectation of arrest, imprisonment or even execution.
She says that Shostakovich's self-abasement and "recantation" after the attacks from Khrennikov were, of course, feigned: her husband never accepted the criticisms that were levelled at him and never recognised the authority of those who made them.
Khrennikov was certainly flattered by the power and influence Stalin conferred on him, and he did his master's bidding with a vengeance: his ruthless imposition of "socialist realism" dogged Soviet music for decades and tormented the greats like Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
Khrennikov, Violin Concerto No. 2 (via CobWeb/3.1 planetlab2.cs.virginia.edu)(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
Amidst the detritus of Soviet culture awash with so many victims, Khrennikov is the rarest of the rare, a certified villain, a target seemingly tailor-made for our righteous indignation.
He was a callow 34-year-old when he was unexpectedly singled out by Stalin; it was out of fear for his life and the welfare of his family that he dutifully read the speeches prepared for him by the Central Committee.
Khrennikov makes no apologies; the composer he has always idolized is Prokofiev, on whose First Violin Concerto his own Second leans heavily.
Pravda.RU:UNESCO Highest Award - Mozart Medal - Conferred on Russian Composer Tikhon Khrennikov(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
We have enthusiastically joined the celebration of the maitre of Russian music who has made an invaluable contribution to the development of musical art and education, said spokesman for the UNESCO Director General Teresa Brown, handing over the medal to the musician on behalf of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
At the present time, there is a house-museum of TikhonKhrennikov and an arts school named after him.
The Russian Vivat Public Charity Foundation for supporting musical and theatre art was founded in 1999 on the initiative of the Union of Theatre Workers of Russia, the Union of Film-Makers of Russia and a number of outstanding cultural and artistic figures.
Yelets, an old town in Central Russia, where TikhonKhrennikov was born and brought up, stands on the banks of a charming little river surrounded by apple-tree gardens.
All this provided a stimulating cultural environment for Tikhon, the tenth and youngest child in the family of salesman Nikolai Khrennikov.
TikhonKhrennikov is an acknowledged master of pop music.
Liszt fanciers arrived in droves even though the biggest attraction, TikhonKhrennikov, long-time boss of the Union of Soviet Composers, was forced at short notice to cancel his appearance as soloist with the Midland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Don Th.
Khrennikov was not really missed, although his absence was a disappointment to some.
Mark Podberezsky, also of the Soviet Union, who was scheduled to lecture on Soviet music, was also a no-show, as was Professor Robert Stevenson of the University of California in Los Angeles, but there were still more than enough performances and lectures to keep everybody busy from 9 a.m.
Quick to join in was TikhonKhrennikov, a mediocrity determined to make a splash.
From a file supplied by Khrennikov, Zhdanov was able to inform the assembly that not only had Prokofiev enjoyed a privileged youth attended by "downtrodden" servants, but that there was no record of him having helped the peasants with the harvest.
The egregious Khrennikov, now First Secretary of the Composers' Union, dutifully savaged the work for "bourgeois Formalism, anti-melodious content, and lack of understanding of Soviet heroism and Soviet humanity" - not so much criticism as a deliberate attempt to break Prokofiev's spirit and health for good.
Khrennikov reserves special scorn for his own countrymen who have turned away from writing music for "the people" in favor of a more intellectual style.
Source: TikhonKhrennikov, quoted in Nicolas Slonimsky, Music Since 1900, 4th ed.
KHRENNIKOV: Three Symphonies - Evgeny Svetlanov/ USSR State Symphony Orchestra - Scribendum(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
In all fairness, Khrennikov was as much a pawn of Stalin as anyone else; and Dimitry Paperno claims that of all those involved in the arts, musicians likely suffered least, perhaps even due to Khrennikov”s intercession in their behalf.
Nevertheless, Khrennikov became identified with an arch-conservative, highly imitative style of composition that found its true medium in film scores but whose symphonic ambitions merely echoed the works of more gifted practitioners.
The Second Symphony (1942) is a big, wartime effort which might be compared favorably to the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony.
Three symphonies, three piano concertos, two violin concertos, two cello concertos, operas, operettas, ballets, chamber music, incidental music and film music.
LP Melodiya C 04547-8: Moscow PO, K. Kondrashin (cond), T. Khrennikov (piano)
LP Melodiya C10 05078: USSR State Orchestra, Y. Svetlanov (cond), T. Khrennikov (piano)
Thanks to the intervention of the spectators, who have been rudely commenting on the play from the sidelines, one princess survives and is united with the prince in a happy love scene.
Next, what is sure to be another compact discovery for most of my listeners: the music to the ballet Love for Love by TikhonKhrennikov.
Then we had Russian pieces about love by Prokofiev and Khrennikov, though, granted, Prokofiev's piece was about the love for three oranges.
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TIKHONKHRENNIKOV Symphony No. 2 & Concerto No. 1 For Violin & Orchestra (Deleted US limited edition Mobile Fidelity 'Original Master Recording' audiophile CD issue of the 7-track 1975 album, mastered directly from the original tapes with a uniqu e fl bordered fold-out colour picture sleeve MFCD907) -
Pravda.RU UNESCO Highest Award - Mozart Medal - Conferred on Russian Composer TikhonKhrennikov
We have enthusiastically joined the celebration of the maitre of Russian music who has made an invaluable contribution to the development of musical art and education More details...
On Monday night, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Vivat public charity fund will hold a formal party devoted to the presentation of the joint awards of UNESCO and the fund.
Onno van Rijen's Shostakovich & Other Soviet Composers Page (via CobWeb/3.1 planetlab2.cs.virginia.edu)(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
This 10 CD-set includes Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and seldomly heard concertos by people like Denisov (Partita for violin and chamber orchestra) and Khrennikov (Violin Concerto No. 2), some smaller works and arrangements for violin and orchestra and a large amount of varied chamber music.
If you can't find the Soviet Composer you are interested in then please let me know.
September 9, 2006: Khrennikov, Tikhon: recordings & reviews