(Classical) Борис Чайковский - Симфония №2, Симфония с арфой (Эмилия Москвитина, БСО имени П.И. Чайковского, Владимир Федосеев) / Boris Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.2, Symphony with Harp (Emilia Moskvitina, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, V. Fedoseyev) - 2005, APE (image+.cue), lossless

Борис Александрович Чайковский
(1925-1996} - выдающийся русский композитор второй половины XX века. Его перу принадлежат четыре симфонии, четыре инструментальных концерта, ряд крупных одночастных симфонических произведений, шесть струнных кварте¬тов, фортепьянный квинтет, множество камерных и вокальных произведений, музыка более чем к 30-ти кино- и теле¬фильмам, радиопостановкам. Исполните¬лями музыки Б.Чайковского (в том числе и первыми исполнителями) были такие прославленные музыканты, как Алек¬сандр Гаук, Самуил Самосуд, Кирилл Кондрашин, Рудольф Баршай, Влади¬мир Федосеев, Эдуард Серов, Геннадий Рождественский, Василий Синайский, Мстислав Ростропович, Галина Вишнев¬ская, Виктор Пикайзен, Игорь Ойстрах, Квартет имени Бородина.
Борис Чайковский родился и сфор¬мировался как личность и художник в эпоху, когда на пространстве огромной России разворачивался самый дерзкий, трагичный в истоках и неведомый в пос¬ледствиях эксперимент по переустройс¬тву мира. Рождение художника и его первые годы совпали со временем, когда едва зарубцевались раны нескольких русских революций и страшной граждан¬ской войны. Юность композитора опале¬на Отечественной войной 1941-1945 г.г. Последние годы жизни - новый слом, распад Советской империи и времена духовной апостассии.
Нет ничего необычного в том, что для многих художников XX века, особенно в России, искусство базировалось на соци¬альном пафосе. Кардинальное отличие Б.Чайковского в том, что без внешних манифестов и деклараций он противо¬поставил оголтелому социуму «мир чис¬тых и возвышенных страстей» своей му¬зыки. Искусство Б. Чайковского никогда не было «советским», но неизменно - русским. Глубоко национальный, все¬охватывающе русский склад музыки Б. Чайковского далек от этнографичес¬кой буффонады последних времен. Его истоки - в своеобразном складе личнос¬ти художника, в опоре на вневременные христианские ценности. Не секрет, что искусство XX века грешило подчас та¬лантливой поэтизацией зла. Б. Чайков¬ский противостоял этому, оставаясь оди¬ноким рыцарем света и надежды.
С легкостью используя любые сверх¬современные композиторские средства, Б. Чайковский прежде всего стремился к максимальной простоте и выразитель¬ности ключевых элементов музыкальной речи. Его ярчайшая индивидуальность проявлялась в первую очередь на «моле¬кулярном» уровне построения мелодии. Интонация Бориса Чайковского всегда узнаваема - будь то короткий мотив или неторопливо разворачивающаяся тема. Дар глубокого философски-поэтическо¬го понимания мира проявился уже в дет¬ских сочинениях композитора. Этот дар позволял ему неизменно оставаться са¬мим собой на всех этапах его непростой творческой эволюции. В сущности, Б. Чайковский не оставил за собой ни одного неудачного произведения. Мно¬гое из созданного им - подлинные ше¬девры музыкального искусства.
Выдающийся русский поэт Давид Са¬мойлов (совместная работа и дружба с которым связывала Бориса Чайковского на протяжении многих лет), в телепере¬даче, приуроченной к 60-летию компо¬зитора, заметил: «Внешняя канва жизни Бориса Чайковского проста. Ее сюжет и содержание заключены в его сочинени¬ях. Он рос, учился, а дальше - музыка, музыка, музыка...».
Борис Чайковский родился в Москве 10 сентября 1925 года в интеллигент¬ной семье: отец - специалист по статис¬тике и экономической географии, мать - врач. Они хорошо знали литературу и искусство, любили музыку. Этическая основа, заложенная родителями, на всю жизнь стала внутренним стержнем ком¬позитора.
В возрасте 9 лет Боря Чайковский пос¬тупил в Гнесинскую музыкальную школу, продолжил музыкальное образование в Гнесинском Училище, а после - в Мос¬ковской Консерватории, где сначала за¬нимался композицией под руководством Виссариона Шебалина. В 1946 году в Консерватории начал преподавать Дмит¬рий Шостакович, и Шебалин рекомендо¬вал Б.Чайковскому перейти в его класс. Но в 1948 году во время «анти-форма-листской» кампании Шостакович (так же, как и Шебалин), был уволен из Консерватории. Их учеников признали жертвами неправильного обучения, и им разреши¬ли продолжить образование. Заканчи¬вал Консерваторию Борис Чайковский по классу Николая Мясковского.
После окончания Консерватории (1949 г.), Борис Чайковский работал ре¬дактором на радио. В 1952 году он ре¬шил оставить эту работу, чтобы посвя¬тить себя сочинению музыки.
Последние годы своей жизни (с 1989 по 1996) Борис Александрович препо¬давал в Российской Академии Музыки имени Гнесиных, где был профессором кафедры композиции.
Борис Александрович Чайковский умер 7 февраля 1996-го года в Москве.
Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky
(1925-1996) is an outstanding Russian composer of the second half of the 20th century. He is the author of four sympho¬nies, four instrumental concertos, several large one-movement symphonic opuses, six string quartets, a piano quintet, a mul¬titude of chamber and vocal pieces, and soundtracks to more than 30 cinema and TV films and several radio plays. Among the performers of music of B. Tchaikovsky (and sometimes premiere performers) were such renowned musicians as Al¬exander Gauk, Samuil Samosud, Kirill Kondrashin, Rudolf Barschai, Vladimir Fe-doseev, Edward Serov, Gennady Rozhdest-vensky, Vasily Sinaisky, Mstislav Rostropo-vich, Galina Vishnevskaya, Viktor Pikaizen, Igor Oistrakh, and the Borodin Quartet.
Boris Tchaikovsky was born, and de¬veloped as a personality and artist, in the era when the immense vast of Russia was the site of the most daring experiment to change the world, tragic in its beginnings, and unimaginable in its consequences. His birth and first years coincided with the time when the wounds of several Russian revolutions and the terrible Civil War were just closing up. The composer's youth was scorched by the Patriotic War of 1941-1945. And in his last years he saw a new shattering explosion, disintegration of the Soviet Empire and the times of spiritual apostasy.
It should not seem strange that for many artists of the 20th century, especially in Russia, art was based on social pathos.
The essential difference of B. Tchaikovsky is that he opposed "a world of pure and lofty passions" of his music to the ob¬sessed society - without showy manifestos and declarations. The art of B. Tchaikovsky never was "Soviet", but invariably Russian. The profoundly national, comprehensively Russian attitude of his music is alien to the ethnic buffoonery of recent times. Its origins are in the unique essence of the composer's personality, and in finding sup¬port in timeless Christian values. It is no secret that the art of the 20th century can be blamed for sometimes talented prais¬ing of evil. Boris Tchaikovsky opposed that, remaining a lone champion of light and hope.
Easily using any super-advanced tools of composing, B. Tchaikovsky primarily strived for ultimate simplicity and expression of the key components of musical speech. His brightest individuality showed itself primarily at the "molecular" level of melo¬dy-building. The intonation of Boris Tchai¬kovsky is always identifiable, be it a brief tune or a theme in unhurried development. The gift of deep philosophical and poetical understanding of the world can already be seen in his compositions as a child. This gift enabled him to stay himself at every stage of his complicated creative evolution. In fact, B. Tchaikovsky did not leave behind a single failed opus. Many of his works are true masterpieces of music.
Prominent Russian poet David Samoilov (who worked with Boris Tchaikovsky, and was his friend for many years), noted in a TV release celebrating the composer's 60th anniversary, "The outward pattern of Boris Tchaikovsky's life is simple. Its plot and content are in his works. He grew up, he studied, and the next is music, music, and music..."
Boris Tchaikovsky was born in Moscow on September 10, 1925 into a white-col¬lar family: his father was an expert in statistics and economic geography, and his mother was a physician. They knew literature and art well, and they loved music. The ethical foundation laid by his parents became the composer's inner pivot for life.
At the age of nine, Borya Tchaikovsky entered the Gnessin School of Music. He continued his musical education at the Gnessin Academy, and then at Moscow Conservatory where he first studied com¬position with Vissarion Shebalin. In 1946, Dmitry Shostakovich began teaching at the Conservatory, and Shebalin recommended that B. Tchaikovsky to move to his class. But in 1948, during the "anti-Formalist" campaign, Shostakovich (just as Sheba¬lin) was fired from the Conservatory. Their students were declared victims of wrong teaching, and they were permitted to continue their education. So Boris Tchai¬kovsky graduated from the Conservatory as a student with Nikolai Myaskovsky.
Upon graduation from the Conservatory (1949), Boris Tchaikovsky found an edi¬tor's job on the radio. In 1952 he decided to quit the job in order to devote himself to composing.
In his last years (from 1989 till 1996), Boris Alexandrovich taught at the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music, where he was Professor of Composition.
Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky died on February 7, 1996 in Moscow.

Symphony No.2 is dedicated to Kirill Kondrashin and was first performed under his direction by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra on October 17, 1967. In 1969, Tchaikovsky was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for this work. Tchaikovsky preferred to referto his last two symphonies without numeration, but rat¬her called them the Sebastopol Symphony and Symphony with Harp. Tchaikovsky labored over the Sebastopol Symphony longer than he did with any other of his works It had been created over the span of ten years, and was completed in 1980. The characteristics of Tchaikovsky's works of the 1970s, such as «Theme and Eight Variations» and «Six Etudes for Strings and Organ» appear in this symphony along¬side the characteristics of his later works.
The Symphony with Harp, completed in 1993, is Tchaikovsky's last orchestral work. From the point of view of the composer's creative evolution, it is remarkable that in it, the characteristics of his latest work are heard alongside with and, moreover, combined into a sort of a mystical circle with the music he wrote when he was 11 years old. The first, third, and fifth movements of the symphony fully reproduce the 5 Preludes for Piano that Tchaikovsky wrote as an 11-year-old in 1936. Overall, these movements are played by solo harp with minimal orchestral «highlighting». The choice of the solo instrument is far from accidental. As the string quartet is the «instrument» of late Beethoven, and the clarinet the instrument of late Brahms, so the harp is the instrument characteristic of late Boris Tchaikovsky (three years be¬fore the symphony, he wrote the Sextet for Winds and Harp). Maybe this is due to the predominance of the idealistic essence of sound over physical nature typical of the harp.
Composer Andrei Golovin wrote regarding the music of the symphony: «The core-the main part of this complex and very unique construction - is the second movement, «Poem». Its music is marked by the wonderful 'strangeness' that is heard in all of Tchaikovsky's later works. Highly dramatic episodes shift, kaleidoscope-like, with moments of deep repose. And it is here, in this quiet, that the sense of farewell, which becomes the main theme in the Symphony, begins to take shape. It reaches its apo¬gee in 4th movement, 'Autumn,' which is, in my conviction, the pearl of the Sym¬phony. Monophony reigns for the duration of this whole movement! The motion of the melody of the strings here is time after time impeded by a mercilessly reappea¬ring barrier, as though the soul is given a sign of the limits of its time on earth». The transcendent «jump» over this barrier (symbolized by the D-minor chord) at the very end of 4th movement is embodied by the appearance of the D-major chord in the trombones. And now the B-minor prelude, whose appearance was interrupted in the beginning of the symphony by the intrusion of the «Poem» movement, is heard in a completely different space.
The premiere of the Symphony with Harp took place in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on December 30, 1993, under the direction of Vladimir Fedoseev. It is this performance that is recorded on this disc.
[A modest event that also took place that night was the first personal acquaintan¬ce of Boris Tchaikovsky with Igor Prokhorov, the future enthusiastic advocate and disseminator of his music and current chairman of The Boris Tchaikovsky Society.]
© 2005, Pyotr Klimov
(translated into English by Tatyana Klimova) Thanks to Louis Blois for his kind advice and comments

Emilia MOSKVITINA (harp)
Graduated from Moscow conservatory under people's artist of the USSR Prof. Vera Dulova. Emilia is a first prize laureate of the All-union Competition of music perform¬ers, a second prize laureate at the International Harp Competition in Israel, and a gol¬den medal winner at the International Harp Competition in the USA. Emilia Moskvi-tina possesses titles of Deserved Artist of Russia and People's Artist of Russia. She is a professor at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music whose pupils work in world leading orchestras. While working in the Great Symphony Orchestra, Emilia Moskvi-tina is also leading an intensive concert life. In collaboration with «l_es Virtuoses de Moscou» under Vladimir Spivakov, Emilia performed at the «Schleswig-Holstein» mu¬sic Festival. She is the only one of Russia's harpists who participated in the Mozart Festival in London where she performed together with the well-known flautist, Ellen Duran. Emilia Moskvitina has performed in the most renowned concert halls of Ger¬many, Italy, Austria and many other countries.

Founded in 1930, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra was the official orchestra of Soviet radio and television until the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the names of the Orchestra have included Grand Symphony Orchestra of Ail-Union Radio and Grand Symphony Orchestra of USSR TV & Radio; the short Russian name is the 'Bolshoi' [Grand] Symphony Orchestra). Since 1993 the Orchestra's name has been the State Academic Grand Symphony Orchestra named after Peter Tchaikovsky. It is known in English as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.
Alexander Orlov became the Orchestra's first director in 1930, followed by Nikolai Golovanov (1937-1953), Alexander Gauk (1953-1961), Gennady Rozhdestvensky (1961-1974) and Vladimir Fedoseyev in 1974. Among its distinguished guest conductors figure Stokowski, Mravinsky, Cluytens, Sebastian, Abendroth, Zecchi and Sanderling, and it has performed with such soloists as Gilels, Oistrakh, Kozlovsky, Lemeshev, Kogan, Arkhipova, Bashmet, Kremer, Tretyakov, Obraztsova and Hvorostovsky. The Orchestra has premiered works by Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Kabalevsky, Sviridov and Boris Tchaikovsky. In addition to its far-reaching tours of Russia, Europe and Japan, it participates in numerous international festivals and has been awarded several prizes for its recordings.
We composers are very grateful to the Grand Symphony Orchestra of Ail-Union Radio, which has performed the premieres of many of our works and has been a good interpreter of a number of scores by Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Glier, Khachaturian, Kabalevsky, Shaporin, Babaganian, Peyko, Karaev and many other composers. I would also like to commend the benevolence of the orchestra and its leaders towards the works of young, unknown composers. Looking back at the history of the Grand Symphony Orchestra one can clearly see the important role which it has played in promoting symphonic music among wide circles of music lovers. What a gentle mission this valuable ensemble carries out!
Dmitri Shostakovich
Vladimir Fedoseyev, People's Artist of the USSR, has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1974. He was appointed Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1997, has been guest conductor of many of the world's leading orchestras and in 1996 became Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Highly acclaimed as an opera conductor, Vladimir Fedoseyev has conducted at La Scala, Vienna State Opera, in Rome and Bologna and is a regular guest conductor at the Zurich Opera. He has received the Russian award for 'Services to the Motherland', as well as the Silver Cross from the Austrian Republic for his services to music in Austria, and in October 2002 received the Golden Star of the honourable citizen of Vienna and its territory. The creative life of almost all my works is connected with the enthusiasm of the performers. And I am grateful to them... The poem The Wind of Siberia is dedicated to Vladimir Fedoseyev, who conducts many of my works...
Boris Tchaikovsky
In Vladimir Fedoseyev, gestures, technique and artistry are harmoniously combined. His intentions are always clear for the orchestra...
Boris Tchaikovsky
Boris Tchaikovsky was connected from his youth with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Alexander Gauk conducted the premieres of his early works, and Vladimir Fedoseyev performed almost all Boris's orchestral works starting with the premiere of the Sebastopol Symphony in January 1981 and including the premiere of the last work, Symphony with Harp, at the end of 1993. Boris highly appreciated Vladimir Fedoseyev and his talent: his conductor's approach to rehearsals and performances, his attention to every detail, and the thoroughness of his work with the scores. The friendship and creative cooperation between the two artists endured for many years, until Boris passed away, and Vladimir Fedoseyev and his orchestra continue to perform Boris Tchaikovsky's works in Russia and abroad.
Yanina-lrena Moshinskaya, widow of Boris Tchaikovsky