Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (Russian: Родион Константинович Щедрин, IPA: [rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin]; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR State Prize (1972), the Lenin Prize (1984), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1992), and is a former member of the Inter-regional Deputies Group (1989–1991). He is also a citizen of Lithuania[1] and Spain.[2]
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Konstantinovich and the family name is Shchedrin.
Rodion Shchedrin
Biography[edit]
Shchedrin was born in Moscow into a musical family—his father was a composer and teacher of music theory. He studied at the Moscow Choral School and Moscow Conservatory (graduating in 1955) under Yuri Shaporin (composition) and Yakov Flier (piano). He was married to ballerina Maya Plisetskaya from 1958 until her death in 2015.
Shchedrin's early music is tonal and colourfully orchestrated and often includes snatches of folk music, while some later pieces use aleatoric and serial techniques.
Among his works are the ballets The Little Humpbacked Horse (1955), Carmen Suite (1973), Anna Karenina (1971, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy), and Lady with a Lapdog (1985); the operas Not Only Love (1961), and Dead Souls (1976, after Nikolai Gogol's novel); piano concertos, symphonies, chamber, and piano music and other works. He composed a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues after he heard those of Dmitri Shostakovich. Also notable is his Polyphonic Notebook.
He has written five concertos for orchestra. The first, its subtitle variously translated as Naughty Limericks or Mischievous Folk Ditties—neither of which completely get the gist of the Russian original which refers to a chastushka, an irreverent, satirical kind of folk song—is by far the best known, and was the work which first established his international reputation.[3] The second of the concertos for orchestra was subtitled Zvony (The Chimes), and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein as one of the many commissions in honor of the orchestra's 125th anniversary. The third is based on old music of Russian provincial circuses. The fourth, Khorovody (round dances), was written in 1989, and the fifth, Four Russian Songs, was composed in 1998.
Shchedrin is also a virtuoso pianist and organist, playing solo piano in the premieres of the first three of his six piano concertos. On 5 May 1974, Shchedrin performed as soloist in all three of his then-completed piano concertos, and the concert, with the USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov, was recorded and released on LP, then CD. He was made a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1989 and received the Russian State Prize from Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1992. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Shchedrin has taken advantage of the new opportunities for international travel and musical collaboration, and now largely divides his time between Munich and Moscow.
From 11 to 14 June 2008, Shchedrin Days took place in Armenia with the participation of Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya as honorary guest. Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 19th composer to be featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2009. He and his wife attended the concerts which included his Russian liturgy The Sealed Angel for choir and flute, performed in Eberbach Abbey. His chamber music included Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk Songs (2007) with the cellist Raphael Wallfisch and himself at the piano, and Meine Zeit, mein Raubtier with tenor Kenneth Tarver and pianist Roland Pontinen who performed it also at the Verbier Festival.
The premiere of a German version of his opera Lolita was performed as the opening night of the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden in a production of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in 2011.[4]