Rostislav Grigoryevich Boiko

Rostislaw Grigoryevich Boiko ( Russian Ростислав Григорьевич Бойко ; born August 1, 1931 in Leningrad , † November 18, 2002 in Moscow ) was a Russian composer .

Life

Boiko grew up in Leningrad, but received most of his musical training in Moscow. There he first attended the choir school . Later he began studying music at the Moscow Conservatory , where he studied composition with Aram Khachaturian (until 1957). Boiko has worked as a composer since completing his studies. He made some trips to remote areas of the Soviet Union to study folk music there. Well-known performers such as Yevgeny Svetlanov campaigned for his music and recorded it on vinyl. In 1977 Boiko was named Honored People's Artist of the RSFSR , and in 1982 he was awarded the State Prize.

style

Boiko was primarily a vocal composer. He was a master at using the human voice and became known in the USSR for his songs and choirs, which are often based on texts by Alexander Pushkin , Sergei Jessenin and Michail Issakowski . Only later did he increasingly turn to instrumental music, although this is again characterized by an extremely vocal lead. Boiko's work is characterized by its massive reference to Russian folk music. His musical language is extremely conservative, tonal through and through and clearly shows the influence of the aesthetics of the socialist realism propagated in the Soviet Union . In many of his works, Boiko also dealt with patriotic topics such as the Second World War , which often leads to a glorification of the Soviet soldiers (e.g. in the 3rd symphony). To a certain extent, parallels to the music of Georgi Swiridov can be found in his work . His work was very well received in the Soviet Union. In the West people were more skeptical about his music. Individual reviewers even described his works as kitsch .

Works

• Orchestral works
  • Symphony No. 1 (1976)
  • Symphony No. 2, Op. 64 (1978)
  • Symphony No. 3 in D minor, op.76 with choir (1986)
  • "The Year 1917", Choral Symphony Op. 13 after Mayakovsky and Bagrizki (1958)
  • Suite on Chechen-Ingush Themes (1958)
  • "Peters Glocken", orchestral suite (1980)
  • Huzul Rhapsody in C minor, Op. 61 (1976)
  • Volga Rhapsody in C major op.62 (1976)
  • Carpathian Rhapsody in D major op.63 for violin and orchestra (1976)
  • Gypsy Rhapsody in D minor for piano and orchestra (1976)
  • "Festive Overture. Solemn fanfares for the handover of the Olympic flag " (1980)
  • Festival procession op.77 (1983)
  • Film music
• Vocal music
  • two operas (1963, 1970)
  • "Wassili Tjorkin", oratorio after Alexander Twardowski op. 21 (1964)
  • "From the Volga to the Carpathians", suite for solos, choir and folk orchestra op. 25 (1967)
  • Wjatka -Lieder for bass and folk orchestra op.47 (1976; revised as cantata op.47a, 1982)
  • over 200 songs
  • over 100 choirs
• Chamber and piano music
  • Violin Sonata op.12 in one movement (1960)
  • Two poems for violoncello and piano (1965)
  • Lyric Suite for Clarinet and Piano (1952)
  • Sonatina for piano op.18 (1963)
  • "The Green Carpathians ", suite for piano (1971)