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Edison Vasilievich Denisov (Russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called "Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music.^[1]

Biography

Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia. He studied mathematics before deciding to spend his life composing. This decision was enthusiastically supported by Dmitri Shostakovich, who gave him lessons in composition.

In 1951–56 Denisov studied at the Moscow Conservatory: composition with Vissarion Shebalin, orchestration with Nikolai Rakov, analysis with Viktor Tsukkerman and piano with Vladimir Belov. In 1956–59 he composed the opera Ivan-Soldat (Soldier Ivan) in three acts based on Russian folk fairy tales.

He began his own study of scores that were difficult to obtain in the USSR at that time, including music by composers ranging from Mahler and Debussy to Boulez and Stockhausen. He wrote a series of articles giving a detailed analysis of different aspects of contemporary compositional techniques and at same time actively experimented as a composer, trying to find his own way.

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he taught orchestration and later composition there. His pupils included the composers Dmitri Smirnov, Elena Firsova, Dilorom Saidaminova, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Sergey Pavlenko, Ivan Sokolov, Yuri Kasparov. He supported and encouraged Dmitri Capyrin and Alexander Shchetynsky who have never been his pupils. See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#Edison Denisov.

In 1979, at the Sixth Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers, he was blacklisted as one of "Khrennikov's Seven" for unapproved participation in a number of festivals of Soviet music in the West.

Denisov became a leader of the Association for Contemporary Music reestablished in Moscow in 1990. Later he moved to France, where after an accident and long illness he died in a Saint-Mandé hospital in 1996.

Music

Denisov's cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble Le soleil des Incas (1964), setting poems by Gabriela Mistral and dedicated to Pierre Boulez, brought him international recognition following a series of successful performances of the work in Darmstadt and Paris (1965). Igor Stravinsky liked the piece, discovering the "remarkable talent" of its composer. However, it was harshly criticised by the Union of Soviet Composers for its "western influences", "erudition instead of creativity", and "total composer's arbitrary" (Tikhon Khrennikov). After that, performances of his works were frequently banned in the Soviet Union.

Later he wrote a flute concerto for Aurèle Nicolet, a violin concerto for Gidon Kremer, works for the oboist Heinz Holliger, clarinettist Eduard Brunner and a sonata for alto saxophone and piano for Jean-Marie Londeix,^[2] that became highly popular among saxophone players.

His sombre but striking Requiem, setting a multi-lingual text (English, French, German, and Latin) based on works by the German writer Francisco Tanzer, was given its first performance in Hamburg in 1980.

Among his major works are the operas L'écume des jours after Boris Vian (1981), Quatre Filles after Pablo Picasso (1986) and ballet Confession after Alfred de Musset.

Honours and awards

People's Artist of the Russian Federation
Honoured Artist of the RSFSR
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters

Selected works

Chamber

1958 Sonata for Two Violins
1958 Three concert pieces for violin and piano
1960 Sonata for Flute and Piano
1961 String quartet no. 2
1963 Concerto for flute, oboe, piano and percussion
1963 Violin sonata
1968 Ode (in Memory of Che Guevara) for clarinet, piano and percussion
1968 Musique Romantique (Романтическая музыка—Romantic Music) for oboe, harp and string trio
1969 String trio
1969 Wind quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
1969 Silhouettes for flute, two pianos and percussion
1969 Chant des Oiseaux (Пение птиц) for prepared piano (or harpsichord) and tape
1969 DSCH for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano
1969 The Singing of the Birds for the ANS photoelectronic synthesizer^[3]
1970 Sonata for alto saxophone and piano
1971 Piano Trio
1972 Sonatina for violin
1974 Signes en blanc (Знаки на белом—The Signs on White) for piano
1975 Choral Varié for trombone and piano
1983 Five Etudes for Solo Bassoon
1984 Variations on Bach chorale ‘’Es ist genung’’ for viola and piano (or chamber orchestra)
1985 Three Pictures after Paul Klee for viola, oboe, horn, piano, vibraphone and double bass
1987 Clarinet Quintet
1987 Piano quintet
1991 Four pieces for string quartet
1991 Octet for winds
1991 Quintet for saxophone quartet and piano
1993 Sonata for clarinet and piano
1994 Sonata for alto saxophone and cello
1995 Trio for flute, bassoon and piano
1995 Des ténèbres à la lumière (From Dusk to Light) for accordion
1996 Sonata for two flutes (May)
1996 Femme et oiseaux (The Woman and the Birds) homage to Joan Miró for piano, string quartet and woodwind quartet
1996 Avant le coucher du soleil for alto flute and vibraphone

Concertos

1972 Cello Concerto
1975 Piano Concerto
1975 Flute Concerto
1977 Violin Concerto
1977 Concerto Piccolo for saxophone and six percussionists
1978 Concerto for flute, oboe, and orchestra
1982 Variations for cello and orchestra on Haydn's Canon Tod ist ein langer Schlaf
1982 Chamber music for viola, harpsichord, and strings
1982 Concerto for bassoon, cello and orchestra
1984 Concerto for 2 violas, harpsichord, and strings
1985 Happy ending for 2 violins, cello, double bass and string orchestra
1986 Viola Concerto
1986 Oboe Concerto
1989 Clarinet Concerto
1991 Guitar Concerto
1993 Concerto for flute, vibraphone, harpsichord and string orchestra
1996 Concerto for flute, clarinet and orchestra

Symphonic

1958 Little suite
1970 Peinture (Живопись—Painting) for orchestra
1982 Chamber Symphony No. 1
1983 Epitaph for chamber orchestra
1985 Suite from the Ballet Confession
1986 Waltz by Franz Schubert
1987 Symphony No. 1
1994 Chamber Symphony No. 2
1996 Symphony No. 2

Choral/Vocal

1964 Le soleil des Incas (Солнце инков—The Sun of Incas), text by Gabriela Mistral for soprano, flute, oboe, horn, trumpet, two pianos, percussion, violin and cello
1964 Italian Songs, text by Alexander Blok for soprano, flute, horn, violin and harpsichord
1966 Les pleurs (Плачи—Lamentations), text of Russian folksongs for soprano, piano and three percussionists
1966 Five stories of Mr. Keuner (B. Brecht) for tenor and small ensemble
1968 Autumn (Осень) after Velemir Khlebnikov for thirteen solo voices
1970 Two Songs after poems by Ivan Bunin for soprano and piano
1973 La vie en rouge (Жизнь в красном цвете—The Life in Red), text by Boris Vian for solo voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion
1980 Requiem after liturgian texts and poems by Francisco Tanzer for soprano, tenor, mixed chorus and orchestra
1981 Song of Autumn for soprano and orchestra
1986 Aux plus haut des cieux for soprano and chamber orchestra
1988 Legends of the subterranean waters for chorus
1988 Peaceful Light for chorus
1989 Four Poems after G. de Nerval for voice, flute and piano
1991 Kyrie for choir and orchestra after fragment from Mozart K.323
1992 History of Life and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christus according to St. Matthew for bass, tenor, chorus and orchestra
1995 Choruses for Medea for chorus and ensemble
1995 Morning Dream after seven poems of Rose Ausländer for soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra

Opera

1956–9 Soldier Ivan (Russian: Иван-солдат) opera in three acts after motifs from Russian folk fairy tales
1981 L'écume des jours (Пена дней—The Foam of Days), an opera after Boris Vian
1986 Quatre Filles (Четыре девушки—The Four Girls), an opera in one act after Pablo Picasso

Ballet

1984 Confession (Исповедь), a ballet in three acts after Alfred de Musset

Arrangements/Completions

1981 Arrangement of Bach Partita BWV 1004, for violin and orchestra
1985 Arrangements of 5 Paganini Caprices op. 1, for violin and string orchestra
1993 Completion of Debussy's opera Rodrigue et Chimène
1995 Completion of Schubert's opera-oratorio Lazarus oder Die Feier der Auferstehung (Лазарь и торжество Воскрешения) D689
1996 Three Cadenzas for Mozart's Concerto for flute and harp

References

^ Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 169–171. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
^ Cummins, John (2018). The saxophone music of Thierry Escaich (Doctor of Musical Arts thesis). University of Iowa. doi:10.17077/etd.0nyo-qdwy.
^ Kreichi, Stanislav (Nov 10, 1997). "The ANS Synthesizer: Composing on a Photoelectronic Instrument". Retrieved 13 October 2014.

Bibliography

Armengaud J.-P. Entretiens avec Denisov, un compositeur sous le régime soviétique. P., 1993 (in French)
Kholopov Yu., Tsenova V. (1995). Edison Denisov. Harwood Academic publ. (in English) || Edison Denisov — The Russian Voice in European New Music. Berlin: Kuhn. 2002. (in English)
Yuri Kholopov & Valeria Tsenova: Edison Denisov — The Russian Voice in European New Music; Berlin, Kuhn, 2002 (in English)
Холопов Ю., Ценова B. (1993). Эдисон Денисов. М.: Композитор. (in Russian)
Brian Luce: Light from Behind the Iron Curtain: Anti-Collectivist Style in Edison Denisov's "Quatre Pièces pour Flûte et Piano;" UMI, Ann Arbor, 2000 (in English)
Peter Schmelz: Listening, Memory, and the Thaw: Unofficial Music and Society in the Soviet Union, 1956–1974, PhD Dissertation, University of California (Richard Taruskin, advisor), 2002 (in English)
Peter Schmelz: Such Freedom, If Only Musical. Oxford University Press, 2009 (in English)
Ekaterina Kouprovskaia : Edison Denisov, monographie. Aedam Musicae, 2017 (in French)
Купровская Е. Мой муж Эдисон Денисов. — М.: Музыка, 2014 (in Russian)
Ценова B. Неизвестный Денисов. М., 1997 (in Russian)
Шульгин Д. И. (1998). Признание Эдисона Денисова. М.: Композитор. Признание Эдисона Денисова (2-е изд ed.). М.: ИД «Композитор». 2004. (in Russian)
Свет. Добро. Вечность. Памяти Э. Денисова. Статьи. Воспоминания. Материалы. М. 1999 (in Russian)