Pianophilia

Thank you very much for posting these scores
Very interesting stuff and as you said not necessarily for children !

My next Kazakh composer: Aida Petrovna Isakova (nee. Shpakova). Born 1940, Vladimir-Volyn, Ukraine: died 2012, Moscow.

Initially studied piano and composition (theory) at the Krasnodar College of Music, and in 1959 entered the Moscow Conservatoire, where she studied piano with Merzhanov, and composition with Golubev. She graduated in 1964, and was sent by the Ministry of Culture to work in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where she worked in the specialist piano class at the Kurmangazy Conservatoire. During this period she also performed solo recitals / with orchestras across the USSR, and abroad including Finland, Bulgaria, USA, and Greece. She also participated in numerous festivals of contemporay music in Kazakhstan.

In 1994 she moved to Moscow, and was invited to work in the piano department of the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Music & Pedagogical Institute. Until 2001, she was head of that department.

Some of the works are repeated across various albums but I have included everything I have so you can select what you want for your own collections. Quality varies from good to reasonable. I have include translations to the various suites / albums below.

Malcolm

‘School Years’ Piece for Children (1975)
1. We are Pioneers
2. Grandfather’s Story
3. Birds Fly Away - Nocturne
4. Two Preludes
5. Humoresque
6. Basso Ostinato
7. Winter Fun
8. Changing
9. Piece in the style of a Canon
10. Scherzo
11. Spring Showers
12. Recollection of a School Ball

Partita for Children (1980)
1. March
2. Polka
3. Round Dance
4. Quadrille
5. Galop

‘At the Zoo’ Pieces for Children (1980)
1. The Elephant
2. Two Monkeys
3. Our Pony Friend
4. Black Panther
5. White Swans
6. Frolicing Cubs
7. Running in the Wheel
8. The Lazy Hippopotamus
9. Stripped Zebra
10. King of the Beasts

‘Good Morning’ Pieces for Children (1997)
1. Ball
2. Signs
3. Ku-ka-Re-Ku
4. Butterfly
5. Soldier
6. Playing with a Ball
7. Spy Lips
8. Vaska Goes Out
9. Offended
10. Brought a Bicycle
11. New Typewriter
12. Everything will be Ok…

‘Orchestra Voices’ Suite (1998)
1. Fanfare
2. Bright Piccolo
3. Funny Bassoon
4. Poetical Cello
5. Scherzo Pizzicato
6. March Tutti

‘Russian Fairytales’ Pieces (1998)
1. The King’s Kingdom
2. Bob
3. Bear Blues
4. Glass Slipper
5. Grey Burka
6. Baba Yaga
7. Perpetual Motion

Variations on Russian Folk Themes (2006)
1. There was a youngster
2. Its sad, sad
3. In the field stood a birch tree

Eighteen National Folksongs – arr. Piano solo
1. We are collective farmers
2. Blossoming Earth!
3. Law of happiness
4. Dear Mum
5. Velvet
6. Karotorgai
7. Pretty
8. Gains
9. Gakku
10. Dudarev
11. The Commander
12. Gains
13. Shamshibanu
14. Bastard
15. March Amangelsa
16. We are on virgin land
17. Dear, be healthy
18. October

Aida Petrovna Isakova - continued.
and another transcription (I'll also post in 2 pianos thread, plus a sonata for trumpet & piano in the Instrumental thread)

Very nice collection. Thank you very much.

Malc: Thank you, great scores for the weekend!

Almost at the end of this exploration of Kazakh composers, next we have Vladimir Efimovich Zavgorodny. Dates unknown. Composer and teacher for 46 years.

Studied at the Karaganda Music School in 1964 (correspondence dept.). Joined the Abaya Children’s Music School in 1965. Was the founder in the mid 1970’s of a Club of Young Musicians (KTUM) where the most gifted students could show their compositional skills.

Since 1975, member of the Union of Amateur Composer of the Karaganda region.

A new composer to me, and it seems this chap was a self-taught composer in the main, although the schools he was associated with, seem to sing his praises as a teacher. Heard the Elegy on YouTube........which I recommend.

Malcolm

Nice batch of scores - the Elegy is particularly good. Here's the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84O0tYt4TXs

Thank you, Malcolm. Quite a few pieces here for younger players to enjoy. What immediately caught my attention was Isakova's little Concertino No.2 for piano & orchestera. I just love the idea of giving children the opportunity to play simpler music WITH ORCHESTRA without needing to be a child prodigy. And with two sterling recommendations, I rushed to the piano to play Zavgordny's Elegy which is indeed quite lovely, however I would take issue the the dynamics in that youtube performance.

My last posting of works by Kazakh composers.

I do recommend the album - has a number of quite rare pieces by Kazakh composers. I appreciate the printing is quite new but I have yet to come across this album in the West (I found it on a Russian blog being shared widely in Russia !!).....and seems a shame that so many rarely heard or performed composers should remain in oblivion. List of contents below.

Unfortunately, the Zhubanova scores are fairly poor scans (seems to be the case with most of her scores) but still readable.

Enjoy !

Malcolm

Piano Pieces by Young Kazakhstan Composers (2008)
1. Nuraliev A – Dombyr
2. Nuraliev A – The River
3. Nesipkhanov O – Waltz
4. Nesipkhanov O – Young Girl Dancing
5. Nesipkhanov O – Imitation of the People’s Melody
6. Nesipkhanov O – Cyu
7. Abey – An Obsession – transcription by Sagat
8. Sagat – Prelude in F minor
9. Sagat – Cheat
10. Abilzhanov H – Autumn
11. Abilzhanov H – Waltz
12. Abrashev G – Variations
13. Abdrashev G – Baitak Field
14. Andosov T – Prelude in G minor
15. Andosov T – Morning
16. Sakeev G – Suite of Intervals
17. Sakeev G – Sonatina
18. Hasangali - Modal Poem
19. Hasangali – Nocturne
20. Hasangali – Fantasy on a Kazakh Folksong
21. Abdinurov A – The Miracle
22. Abdinurov A – The Hare
23. Abdinurov A – The Chicken

Amongst the interesting children's pieces the well-written Tolukpaev A - 'Yapurai' Kazakh Folk Song Transcription certainly stands out. The Zhubanova pieces have nice harmonies to recommend them, too.
Thanks for posting these, Malcolm.