Russian & Soviet Composers - Part 3

[mballan]

I recently managed to obtain a number of scores via Sibley that were taken from an old and very delapidated album of Russian music. Much are early scores from the Jurgenson and Belaieff catalogue, and include some unique and very obscure rarities. With special thanks to Parag, who has spent many hours cleaning up the scores, we can now jointly share these with PP members.

Some of the scans / scores were in a very poor state and although Parag has produced clean copies, the odd page may look slightly fuzzy….although when print the image is very clean.

I shall post these over several nights with linking biographies where I am am to locate information on the composer. Some of the composers are extremely obscure, and unfortunately in those cases the information is very limited.

Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki [Alpheraky]. Born 1846, Kharkov – died 1919, St Petersburg. Studied philosophy at Moscow University and simultaneously, piano and music theory. He was closely associated with the Belaieff Circle, and his works often display the influence of Ukrainian folksong.

Odd bits by Alferaki have been posted on PP……but don’t think we have necessarily had all the pieces for each opus [with the exception of Op 25].

Op 25 Trois Morceaux [1. Introduction 2. Mazurka 3. Serenade lavantine]

Alpheraky - Op 25 Trois Morceaux.pdf

Op 27 Trois Morceaux [1. Mazurka 2. Mazurka 3. Valse]

Alpheraky - Op 27 Trois Morceaux.pdf

Op 29 Trois Morceaux [1. Duo 2. Scherzo 3. Valse]

Alpheraky - Op 29 Trois Morceaux.pdf

Op 30 Trois Morceaux [1. Etude 2. Menuet 3. Etude]

Alpheraky - Op 30 Trois Morceaux.pdf

Nikolay Vasil’yevich Artsybushev [Artciboucheff] Born 1858, Tsarskoye Selo [now Pushkin]: died 1937, Paris. Composer and teacher. Studied with Solov’you and Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 1907 succeeded the latter as a trustee of the Belaieff council for the encouragement of Russian music. Became chairman of the St Petersburg section of the Russian Music Society in 1908, and joined the Belaieff publishing company in Paris in 1920. Collaborated with other Belaieff members including Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin in writing works such as Les Vendredis and Variations on a Russian Theme for string quartet. Also made arrangements of works by Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

I believe these mazurkas have been posted previous on PP .

Op 3 Deux Mazurkas

Artciboucheff - Op 3 Deux Mazurkas.pdf

Nikolai P Artemyev [Artemieff] No further information known beyond he wrote over 400 opuses !! Although I believe there may be some information in Hofmeister [if anyone holds a copy of that work]? I was also able to obtain two further works from the Moscow State Library.

Alice Reine Valse

Artemieff - Alice Reine Valse.pdf

Op 140 “Impetuous Heart” Potpourri on Russian Romances (Jurgenson)

Artemieff - Op 140 “Impetuous Heart” Potpourri on Russian Romances.pdf

Op 217 Petite Valse Inattendue

Artemieff - Op 217 Petite Valse Inattendue.pdf

Vladimir Evgenevich Artinov. Another unknown composer beyond brief mention of his name in the Moscow State Library [opus 1 & 2 being romances].

Op 3 Quatre Elegies [1. Le Soir 2. La Nuit 3. Le Matin 4. Le Jour]

Artinow - Op 3 Quatre Elegies.pdf

Mikhail Pavlovich von Azantchevsky [Asantschewsky] Born 1839, Moscow: died 1881, Moscow. Originally trained for the military. He completed his education in counterpoint and composition under Hauptmann and Richter at Leipzig between the years 1861 and 1864, and piano with Liszt in Rome. He often lived alternating between Paris and St. Petersburg. From 1871-76 was director of the St Petersburg Conservatoire [where he strived to raise its standards and invited several prominent teachers including Rimsky-Korsakov], and was also chairman of the St Petersburg section of the RMS. Was considered one of the most cultivated of Russian musicians, was noted for his exqusite “finish of diction and form which characterises his compositions, as well as for his extensive knowledge in musical matters generally”. He acquired a reputation among book-collectors as the possessor of one of the finest private libraries of muscial works in Europe [G. Anders collection which he purchased in Paris and donated to the St Petersburg Conservatoire]. Among his printed compositions the following should be noted: Op 2 Sonata in B minor for piano and cello; Op 10 Trio in F sharp minor for piano and strings; Op 12 Fest-Polonaise for two pianofortes; Passatempo for piano à quatre mains.

Op 5 Trois Valses [1. Une Valse pour Danser 2. Une Valse pour Rire 3. Une Valse melancolique]

Asantschewsky - Op 5 Trois Valses.pdf

Op 6 Six Morceaux [1. - 2. - 3. Passatempo 4. - 5. Chant sans paroles 6. Capriccio] Note - part of No. 3 and No. 4 is missing.

Asantschewsky - Op 6 Six Morceaux Nos 1-3 & 5-6.pdf

Joseph Alexandrovich Borovka [Boroffka] Pianist, born on November 27, 1853. Musical education obtained at the St. Petersburg Conservatorie, graduated in 1876 (class of Leschetizky). From 1877 - 87 he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire; and then from 1888 he moved to take up a position at one of the St. Petersburg musical schools, whilst he also concertizing at the same time.

Op 1 Zwei Klavierstucke No. 1 Melodie

Boroffka - Op 1 No. 1 Melodie.pdf

Op 2 Variations on an original theme

Boroffka - Op 2 Variationen.pdf

Etude de Concert

Boroffka - Etude de Concert.pdf

Trois Miniatures [1. Prelude Mignon I 2. Prelude Mignon II 3. Valse Gracieuse]

Boroffka - Trois Miniatures.pdf

Parag & Malcolm

[HullandHellandHalifax]

Absolutely fantastic, thanks to Parag and of course you Malcolm. er...I didn't realise there were two Mr. P's!!!
Now I am confused.
regards
Brian

[fleubis]

Malc & Parag, thanks very much indeed for these scores. I hope sometime Parag will share with us his expertise in "cleaning up" these scores as they look very, very fine.

[Jean-Séb]

Absolutely fantastic, thanks to Parag and of course you Malcolm.

Seconded.

[Dani_area_51]

Thank you so much, Malcolm and Parag... I believe all this efforts are really worthwhile and I am amazed by reading you will keep posting even more

[WCosand]

Thank you both so much.

[mballan]

Yes, there are now two Mr P's - Peter and Parag !!

Thank you for everyone's glowing comments. More Russian scores tomorrow............the biographies are proving to be very challenging.

Malcolm & Parag

[fhimpsl]

First off......A HUGE Thank-You to Malc and the various Mr. P's...all of whom have made me ecstatically happy for the past 2 weeks or so; starting with the extensive and marvelous Poldini series and then going in so many wonderful directions!!! Your Reinhold posting as an example...in my collecting experience of over 50 years now, this is only the third opus by the composer I have ever seen. His Impromptu Op. 28-3 is virtually all that ever turns up, along with Op. 39 - a set of miniatures put out by Schirmer.

But what has really taken by breath away are your recent postings of the extraordinarily rare Russian scores. It seems like I've been aware of the name Alpheraky forever, as a single example of each of the sets of "Trois Morceaux" had been included in various 100+ year old collections of Russian music (one in particular I know was published by Carl Fischer in NYC). But the rarity of the complete sets of Morceaux must be absolutely staggering. I was unable to find them at the Library of Congress many years ago. And the other Russians are completely new for me. The Boroffka is just exquisite! As are the extremely beautiful Artinov Elegies. One note on the Asantschewsky...I've played through the score of Op. 6 and find that both pieces Nos. 3 and 4 are incomplete (you mentioned only No. 4), which correspond to pages 11-14 as numbered on the sheet music. Little matter really. Having anything from these composers is an incredible delight and privilege.

In honor of the efforts of Sir Malc and Mr. P, it is my pleasure to contribute two unique pieces by the great Scriabinist, Arthur Lourie, who obviously needs little introduction to this thread. These are in the form of unpublished manuscripts which were part of his personal effects. I sincerely hope that one or more enthusiastic Pianophilians (with very good eyesight, mind you) can take these manuscript scores and perhaps transcribe them via one of the many music writing software packages, such as Encore, Sibelius and the like. It will take some careful study to accomplish this. Years ago this would be an opportunity I would not have missed, as I was a demonically driven transcriber at one time! At the present my eyesight is far too poor to take on this challenge. In fact I count my blessings at being able to read conventional printed music with reasonable facility.

So Malc, Mr. P('s) and my other Pianophilian friends, please do enjoy the Lourie attached!!!

As Always,

Frank

Lourie - Op. 13 - Masques (Tentations).pdf

Lourie - Op. 40 - Oshibka Baryshni Smerti - Unpubl. Ms..pdf

[fleubis]

Frank, I am completely floored by your totally unexpected posting of the Lourie pieces. These pieces will clearly take some work to get them into a performable condition, but even now, playing what I can make out--we clearly have Lourie at this best. I am totally amazed by this find. Thank you so very much.

[mballan]

Hi Frank

Thank you for pointing that out......"One note on the Asantschewsky...I've played through the score of Op. 6 and find that both pieces Nos. 3 and 4 are incomplete (you mentioned only No. 4), which correspond to pages 11-14 as numbered on the sheet music". I have not had a chance to look at the Asantchevsky [too many others to dribble over]......I will investigate to see if I can locate the missing pages. My apologies for this oversight on my part.

Malcolm