Vadim Nikolayevich Salmanov

Vadim Nikolaevich Salmanow ( Russian Вадим Николаевич Салманов; born October 22 ^{. Jul} / 4. November  1912 ^greg. In St. Petersburg ; † 27. February 1978 ) was a Russian composer .

Life

Salmanov received piano lessons from his father at the age of six. Fyodor Akimenko later gave him composition lessons. But shortly before he wanted to start studying music at the Leningrad Conservatory at the age of 18 , he suddenly changed his mind and studied geology instead . After completing his studies, he worked as a geologist before changing his mind and in 1936 began studying composition at the Leningrad Conservatory with Mikhail Gnessin . He successfully completed this in 1941 and shortly afterwards went into the Second World War as a soldier . Afterwards Salmanov stepped up with compositions to the public. From 1946 he worked as a teacher in the music school. In 1952 he entered the Leningrad Conservatory; Until the end of his life and from 1965 as a professor he taught composition there. At times he was even chairman of the composers department. In addition, Salmanov performed some political activities, including a. as secretary of the Soviet composers' association. In 1972 Salmanov was named "People's Artist of the RSFSR ".

style

Salmanov initially composed in a rather conservative idiom. He preferred folksy, catchy melodies and lush timbres. Many of his works had programmatic backgrounds that were often based on descriptions of nature or old Russian stories. The harmony was mainly influenced by Dmitri Shostakovich , but Salmanov maintained a more lyrical, less linear style without the irony so characteristic of Shostakovich. This changed in the early 1960s when Salmanow modernized his tonal language. He now largely renounced programs in order to compose absolute, often philosophical music. Its melody became considerably more brittle, the harmony rougher, and a sense of the grotesque was added. He resorted more to polyphonic forms of design and generally approached Shostakovich. In the works of the 1960s Salmanow endeavored to synthesize twelve-tone technique and tonal harmony. From 1966, however, he gradually returned to a more conservative, melodic tonal language based on a chromatic tonality. Salmanow was v. a. known for his 2nd symphony and his skillful vocal music. Salmanov had a prominent advocate in the conductor Yevgeny Maravinsky , who regularly performed his works.

Works

• Orchestral works
  • Symphony No. 1 in D minor (1952)
  • Symphony No. 2 in G major (1959)
  • Symphony No. 3 in A minor (1963)
  • Symphony No. 4 in B minor (1976)
  • Little Symphony for String Orchestra (1941)
  • Children's Symphony (1962)
  • "Poetic Pictures", Suite after Andersen (1955)
  • Symphonic poems
  • "Welcome October!", Overture (1976)
  • "Man", ballet (1964)
  • Sonata for piano and string orchestra (1961)
  • 2 violin concertos (1964, 1974)
  • "Big City Nights", suite for violin and chamber orchestra (1962)
• Vocal music
  • "The Twelve", oratorio based on Blok (1957)
  • "Ode to Lenin" for choir and orchestra based on Neruda (1969)
  • "The Scythians ", cantata based on Blok (1973)
  • "Das Schwanenweibchen", concert for a cappella choir No. 1 (1966)
  • "Guter Kerl", Concerto for Choir No. 2 for tenor, male choir, English horn and bayan (1971)
  • Songs and choirs based on texts by Blok, Jessenin , García Lorca and Neruda
• Chamber music
  • String Quartet No. 1 in F minor (1945, rev. 1956)
  • String Quartet No. 2 (1958)
  • String Quartet No. 3 in D major (1961)
  • String Quartet No. 4 in G major (1963)
  • String Quartet No. 5 (1968)
  • String Quartet No. 6 (1971)
  • Piano quartet (1947)
  • 2 piano trios (1946, 1949)
  • 3 violin sonatas (1945, rev. 1953, 1962, 1977)
  • Violoncello Sonata (1963)

Web links

• Catalog raisonné Vadim Salmanov. Internet Edition compiled by Onno van Rijen. May 12, 2012, archived from the original on May 15, 2014 .