Naomi and I have a special program called "The Soviet Saxophone". This program consists of pieces written for saxophone and piano by Russian composers in the former Soviet Union. Some of these pieces however, where written by the same composers but after they emigrated to the West.
It was always very difficult to be a composer in the Soviet Union, but the position of the saxophone was a very problematic one as well. This was due to the fact that it was a 'decadent', 'bourgeois' instrument. The people were being heavily oppressed during the reign of Stalin. They were oppressed for having different political views, belonging to some ethnic minority, for suspicion of being influenced by the West, or just for no clear reason at all. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state, everything (including music) was regulated and controlled. In the composers case there was a union, the "Union of Soviet Composers" which controlled everything. This USC didn't just decide whose music was being performed of was allowed to be published, but also took care of matters like: housing, holidays, sheet music paper, etc. It was almost impossible to survive if you weren't a member of this union. The USC had been founded in the 1930's because the gouvernment desired a larger influence on musical life within the Soviet Union. Similar organisations also existed for film and literature.
The aim of the USC was to make sure that new compositions contributed to the development of the Soviet Union, and that they could be understood by the people, the proletariat. This meant that composition had to somehow express the feelings and desires of 'the people'. If the composer made a too personal statement with his composition, it was usually forbidden. And the composer could get into very serious trouble. In that time there hardly was any contact at all with the West, so the Russian people had no idea of the cultural and musical developments there.
Stalin used to personally interfere with composers and their compositions. A very famous example is of course Shostakovich' opera 'Lady McBeth of Mtensk'. After Stalin went to see this opera he immediately banned it, causing widespread and public attacks on Shostakovich. Shostakovich lived in fear of his life for a long time, since it wasn't unusual at all to be sent to Siberia or be executed in such a case. He always had a suitcase with clothes ready, for he (as many others like him) was always afraid that the secret police would come in the middle of the night to get him.
This climate in fact lasted until the death of Stalin on March the 5th of 1953. From that day on the regime loosened its grip a little bit, not only for artists, but for all people in the Soviet Union. Soon after Stalins death Chroesjtsjov came to power and then a period also known as the "Chroesjtsjov thaw" began. Slowly relations with the West were re-established, and also cultural exchanges started to take place.
In this period (the sixties) young, new, 'modern' composers like Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and Edison Denisov came to prominence. As their music was found to be too modern and Western they had a very difficult career. Although marching out of step wasn't as life threatening as it once was, it still made your life exceedingly difficult. Denisov, for example wasn't allowed to teach composition classes at the Moscow Conservatory because they feared he would have a disrupting influence on the students. He therefore gave instrumentation lessons and organised informal sessions during which he would study and discuss new (Western) pieces with his students. Amongst his students were Dmitri Smirnov en Nikolai Korndorf, who both wrote a lot of music for the saxophone.
In this period the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev had finally been officially approaved of, young composers were even encouraged to write in the same style. Since Shostakovich was still alive and exerted an enormous influence over the students, it was very difficult for them to find their own style.
In the Moscow of the seventies there was a group of young composers who turned away from the 'official' way of composing. They formed the "Association of Contemporary Music". Denisov, Smirnov and Korndorff, among others, where members of this club. This ACM started out as a group of friends who would meet in the flat of Smirnov and Elena Firsova (his wife and also a composer) and discuss their new compositions. They would also plan performances, produce editions of their pieces and establish contacts with Western artists. They furthermore created an ensemble which performed their own works. Denisov was a part of the ACM, rather than just their teacher, he was also their friend and mentor.
As mentioned above, more and more exchanges with the West were taking place. It was Denisov who invited the French saxophone player Jean-Marie Londeix to come to Moscow. The saxophone wasn't taken very seriously in the Soviet Union, it was even regarded with suspicion. This was because it was associated with the decadent Western bourgeoisie, hence the very problematic position of jazz music.
As a result nobody wrote serious music for the saxophone, and people weren't familiar with all it's possibilities and modern techniques like; multiphonics, quarter tones, slap-tongueing, etc. Londeix demonstrated all these different possibilities and inspired composers to write for the saxophone.
The Russian saxophonist and clarinet player Lev Mikhailovich did however commission new pieces, Smirnovs and Korndorfs pieces were written for him. Almost all of the composers on the photograph below wrote for the saxophone. Some of those compositions, notably by Smirnov, Korndorf, Shoot and Karayev are being performed by Naomi and I with great pleasure. The music of these composers very much deserves being played, and I hope that these pieces will be performed more frequently in the future.
Standing (left to right): Viktor Ekimovski, Yuri Kasparov, Leonid Hrabovsky, Pierre Boulez, Faradj Karaev, Vladimir Tarnopolski, Vladislav Shoot. Sitting: Edison Denisov, Elena Firsova, Alexander Voustin and Dmitri Smirnov.
The following samples are from out new CD "The Soviet Saxophone", for more information on that, go to the page 'Discography'.
Dmitri Smirnov (1948)
Ballade (1982, altsaxofoon en piano)
Twelve Melancholic Waltzes (1985/2005)
Nr. 12 December Elegy
Vladislav Shoot(1941)
Miniature Partita (1987)
Faradj Karayev(1943)
Alla Valse, voor sopraansaxofoon en piano
Vladislav Shoot
Scherzo
Nikolaj Korndorf(1947-2001)
Monolog und Ostinato (1978)
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Sergej Prokofiev(1891-1953)
Sonate nr. 2 Op. 94 (1942-1944)
Moderato
Presto
Andante
Allegro con brio
Sergei Prokofiev died on the same day as Stalin, causing his death to go unnoticed for some time. He also had a difficult life in the Soviet Union. In the thirties he had made the decision to move back to the Soviet Union, after a long stay in Europe. He thought he would have more success in his own country, but would soon find out that this was a mistake. Being a composer in the Soviet Union was very difficult. He wrote his Flute Sonata op. 94 in 1943, during WOII. He arranged it afterwards for violin, in collaboration with David Oistrach.