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1973
             
The composer Georgy Sviridov becomes the winner of the Grand Prix instituted by the Charles Craux Academy in France and of the Golden Orpheus prize for a recordful of his works made by Alexander Yurlov and his Russian Capella choir, which was now working on Svirodov's new project - music to Czar Fyodr Ioannovich after an eponymous play by Alexei Tolstoy now being staged at Moscow's Maly Theater. Sviridov wants to adorn the narrative about the final years in the life of Ivan the Terrible's pious and weak son destined to rule the giant nation, with religious chants. In fact, that was the first time church music was written and played in public in the Soviet Union.
Alexander Yurlov and his choir did a good job rehearsing Sviridov's music but on February 2, the famous choirmaster suddenly died, not living to celebrate his 45th birthday… Another conductor picked up where Yurlov had left off in a final tribute to the memory of the great musician who died so early like a candle burning on both ends…
Shortly after the great choirmaster's untimely demise, the choir took up his name but never again will they sound so powerful and tender like they did before… The thrill was gone…
In Moscow, the Bolshoi Theater was packing up for their already second trip to Milan. The ballet company was bracing up for their first ever performance on the stage of the venerable La Scala Theater where, meeting the Italians' request, they showcased their most recent outing - the Anna Karenina ballet to music by Rodion Shchedrin whose world-acclaimed wife Maya Plisetskaya was dancing the main part.
And still, the biggest attraction of the whole event was the opera company of Russia's oldest theater which was offering the very best of its classical repertoire. The tour opened on October 24 with the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila by the great 19th century Russian composer Mikhail Glinka…
The Italians were absolutely ecstatic about everything, the music they had never heard before played at La Scala, the stage production and, of course, the voices, especially Tamara Sinyavskaya's critically-acclaimed mezzo-soprano…
In their first-ever tour of Japan, the Symphony orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic were stunning audiences in Russia's easternmost neighbor...
"A truly textbook outfit whose mastery is simply impossible to match" raved the critics, reserving their biggest accolades for Yevgeny Mravinsky who had been conducting the orchestra for 35 years now. They extolled him as one of the greatest conductors alive and immediately invited Mravinsky's orchestra to come back the following year…
On June 4, when the orchestra's Japanese tour was still on, Yevgeny Mravinsky was marking his 70th birthday. Never a lover of pomp and circumstance, the maestro holds a low-profile celebration only to learn later in the day that he has become the first Soviet musician to be awarded the much-coveted title of Hero of Socialist Labor...
Two days later, the same title was bestowed on another outstanding musician, composer Aram Khachaturian who, like Mravinsky, was also marking his 70th birthday. In Moscow, they hold a festival of Khachaturian's music in the Conservatory Big Hall. The cream of Russian music is in attendance and Khachaturian himself conducts the Big Symphony Orchestra of the Soviet Radio and Television.
"My musical language is two-pronged," the composer says, "First, it is the folklore of my native Armenia, and, secondly, it is the traditions of the Russian classical music which I absorbed during my Conservatory years and later on, when I was already living in Moscow…"
The Leningrad Conservatory graduate Vasily Sinaisky wins an international competition of conductors held in West Berlin by the great Herbert von Karajan…
In the United States, Moscow Conservatory graduate Vladimir Viardo triumphs at an international piano competition organized at Fort Worth, Texas, by Van Clibern, the winner of the first Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow…
In Moscow, domra-player Alexander Tsygankov wins the main prize at an international competition of folk instrumentalists. A student of the Gnessins Music College, he stuns the jury by his virtuosic command of the ancient instrument. Alexander Tsygankov toured the whole world proving over and over again that the instrument once played by the wandering minstrels of old can be equally good playing just about any kind of music, from classical to jazz.
Soviet television launched Tatyana Lioznova's 17 Moments in Spring series. Each night the whole nation was glued to their TV screens following with bated breath the heroic effort bent in the ebbing days of World War 2 by a Soviet agent working in the very heart of Hitler's agonizing Third Reich… The series owed much of their charm to the captivating music written by Mikhael Tariverdiyev…
Back in 1973 Tariverdiyev was ruling supreme, his fame only matched by fellow composer David Tukhmanov, the author of the early Seventies hit My Home Is My Country. Though essentially patriotic, the song provided a welcome break with those noisy songs about love for the Communist party and the Motherland whose over the top fanfare only underscored their author's desire to please the authorities…
In Moscow, the official Melodiya label set up a band of the same name whose 11-strong lineup was lead by the well-known saxophone player Georgy Garanyan. The band's overall sound brings back memories of the small jazz-bands they had during the Twenties, a cross between Chicago-style Dixieland and swing...
The new band plays virtually everything that comes their way, from jazz to dance and sympho-jazz. The musicians are great improvisers all, their runs imaginative and witty…
The Melodiya ensemble spend most of their time working for their mother company releasing 15 full-size albums during their 8-year stint with the Melodiya label .
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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