Rudolf Borissowitsch Barschai
Rudolf Borissowitsch Barschai ( Russian Рудольф Борисович Баршай , often also in the English transcription Barshai ; born September 28, 1924 in the Staniza Labinskaja , RSFSR ; † November 2, 2010 in Basel ) was a Russian conductor and viola player .
Career
Barschai first studied violin, then viola at the Moscow Conservatory with Professors Lev Zeitlin and Vadim Borissowski . He received composition lessons from Dmitri Shostakovich and made music with him. He studied the theory and practice of conducting with Ilja Musin .
As a violist, Barschai performed both as a soloist and together with Swjatoslaw Richter and David Oistrach , together with Mstislaw Rostropowitsch and Leonid Kogan he formed a trio. Barschai won numerous Soviet and international competitions.
In 1945 Barshai was a founding member of the Borodin Quartet , which he left in 1953.
In the light of the concerts of the Wilhelm Stross Chamber Orchestra , which appeared as the first orchestral ensemble after the war in the Soviet Union in the course of Konrad Adenauer's historic state visit and which celebrated triumphs there, Barshai founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, which, like the Stross'sche Orchester, “ while standing ”played. He remained its conductor and director until he emigrated to Israel in 1977. There he was director of the Israeli Chamber Orchestra , then conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (1982–1986). Since then he has lived in Switzerland . Barshai has conducted many well-known orchestras, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra , Vancouver , the London Symphony Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne , the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra , orchestras in Stuttgart , Houston , Miami , Cincinnati and many others.
Barschai became famous as an interpreter and through his transcriptions of the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev as well as through his conducting of the music of Gustav Mahler and Shostakovich. Many of his recordings have won international awards. He wrote music history with the instrumentation of Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet for chamber orchestra, authorized by the composer . The composer added the piece to his catalog raisonné as Opus 110a.
In the last years of his life, Barschai lived with his fourth wife, Helena, in Ramlinsburg , Switzerland, where he was also buried.
memories
- In 2012 the biographical film "The Note" was released; it was filmed by Oleg Dorman in 2010. A book of the same name was published in 2013.
- In 2015 the British label ICA Classics released a box containing 20 CDs called “A Tribute to Rudolf Barshai”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Russian conductor Rudolf Barschai is dead
- ↑ FAZ from November 5, 2010, page 34: Life for Shostakovich
- ↑ Сайт памяти Рудольфа Баршая
Web links
- Literature by and about Rudolf Borissowitsch Barschai in the catalog of the German National Library
- Rudolf Barschai's website ( memento from September 30, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- Biography in the online encyclopedia Krugosvet (Russian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Barschai, Rudolf Borissowitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Рудольф, Борисович Баршай (Cyrillic) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian conductor and viola player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 28, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stanitsa Labinskaya , RSFSR |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 2, 2010 |
| Place of death | Basel |