Edison Denisov
Edison Denisov was born in 1929 in Tomsk, Siberia, where he first studied mathematics
at university. In 1951 he took up musical studies at the Moscow Conservatory - composition
with Visarion Shebalin, orchestration with Nikolai Rakov, analysis with Viktor Zuckerman
and piano with Vladimir Belov - which he completed in 1956.
In the sixties, Edison Denisov devoted himself to an in-depth study of the work of
the "classic" composers of the twentieth century (Stravinsky, Bartók,
the Second Viennese School) and of contemporary Western art (Boulez, Nono, Stockhausen
and Lutoslawski). This period corresponds to his search for a personal style which,
at the time, was beginning to affirm itself in vocal and instrumental pieces. Of
great significance for his further development proved to be the vocal chamber piece
"Le soleil des Incas", premiered in 1964 by Gennady Rozhdestvensky in Leningrad
and later performed by Bruno Maderna, Pierre Boulez and other conductors throughout
Europe and in America, as this work marked the point of departure for the composer's
personal style.
In the following decade, Edison Denisov concentrated on works for large ensembles
and wrote most of his concerti, many of which were commissioned by pre-eminent Western
soloists such as flutist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, clarinetist
Eduard Brunner and saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix. The world première of the
Violin Concerto was given in Milan by Gidon Kremer. The rigorous organisation of
the musical fabric which was a characteristic of Denisov's output in the sixties
gradually gave way to a supple and free use of the most varied compositional techniques
and processes, dictated by the general nature of each work.
For Edison Denisov, the eighties corresponded to the mature period, lyrical and of
a very vocal nature, and determined by series of characteristic intonations, in particular
motifs based on seconds and thirds. This was writing which often recalled the heterophony
of Russian folksongs, marked by highly diversified rhythms and containing numerous
difficulties for the performers. Finally, this was a dramatic art which implied a
progressive development of the material and important culminating episodes. It was
during these years that the composer penned his most notable works: the opera "L'écume
des jours", premiered in 1986 at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the chamber
opera "Quatre jeunes filles" ("Four Young Girls"), based on a
play by Pablo Picasso, the ballet "The Confession", based on the novel
by Alfred de Musset, and a Requiem. During this period, the composer took inspiration
from the great themes linked to existence and religion. His work now expressed a
kind of symbolism through melody, harmony, rhythm and timbres. This style continued
into the nineties.
Denisov received two French commissions, one from the Ensemble InterContemporain
for its tenth anniversary, the other from Daniel Barenboim to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the Orchestre de Paris. For this occasion Denisov composed his first
symphony, which Barenboim premiered at the Salle Pleyel in 1988 and conducted three
times in Chicago in 1991. Denisov also wrote a number of film scores and incidental
music during the nearly three decades he collaborated with Yuri Lyubimov, director
of the Taganka Theatre in Moscow, putting on productions in Russia and throughout
Europe.
Since 1959, he had taught the analysis of musical forms and orchestration at the
Moscow Conservatory and, beginning in 1992, composition. In 1990, he took over the
direction of Moscow's Association of Contemporary Music. In 1990-91, he was invited
by Pierre Boulez to work at IRCAM, the French experimental music institute located
in Paris. Edison Denisov was a corresponding member of the Bavarian and Berlin Academies
of Fine Arts. In 1986, he was named Officer of the Academy of Arts and Letters by
the French Minister of Culture and received the Grand Prix of the City of Paris in
1993.
After a long illness, Denisov died in November 1996 in a Paris hospital.
"Beauty is a principal factor in my work. This means not only beautiful sound,
which, naturally, has nothing to do with outward prettiness, but beauty here means
beautiful ideas as understood by mathematicians, or by Bach and Webern.
The most important element of my music is its lyricism.
I find serialist procedures very promising, but in my work I strive for synthesis
and use tonality, modality, aleatory and other expressive media."
Edison Denisov
-Biography by Sikorski
NOTES on
Sonata for alto saxophone and
cello (1994)
I. Allegro risoluto
II. Tranquillo
III. Moderato
The "Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Violoncello"
was composed in October
1994 and dedicated to Claude Delangle. Saxophone and cello marry well in
terms of ensemble yet they remain very different instruments from the point
of view of writing music. The sonata is virtuosic in its requirements and
it continues the ideas contained in my "Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano
(1970)". It also comprises three movements but the second movement is much
longer and much more developed than the other two. It takes a form of a
long dialogue between the saxophone and the cello, making frequent use of
quarter tones. While in the second movement the instruments are treated as
homogeneous and melodic, in the outer movements they are contrasted. As in
the "Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano", the finale introduces jazz
elements. - Notes by Edison Denisov
EDISON DENISOV (1929 - 1996)
was born in Tomsk. He graduated from Tomsk University, course of mathematics (functional
analysis) in 1951. In 1951-1959 he studied in Moscow conservatory and completed a
post-graduated course, composition class of Vissarion Shebalin. Since 1960 he has
been teaching here, first theory course, then instrumentation, as well as composition
of late (since 1993).
Denisov is one of the best known composers and public figures in the World. Since
he was a student his activities have contradicted the established music-aesthetic
dogmas. As a leader of students scientific-theoretical society, he learned the newest
foreign music, he was in correspondence with the leading composers of the world (with
Pierre Boulez, Georgy Ligeti and others...)
In the 60-ies E. Denisov became one of the leaders of national avant-garde. He worked
very intensively in the genres of camber music, made a number of theoretical investigatigations,
being among the first in national musicology who wrote about modern composition principles.
In 1964 the most important event for him was performance of his chamber cantata “The
Sun of the Incas” in Leningrad by Gennady Rozhdenstvenski. Very soon this cantata
brought him recognition abroad (in France, the USA, Great Britain, Poland and other
countries).
Since 1970-ies the composer has turned his attention to big instrumental forms. The
most important points in his creative career became the premiers of his ballet “Confession”
in Tallinn (1984), “Requiem” in Hamburg (1980), opera “L’Ecume des Jours” (1986)
and Symphony (1987) in Paris.
E.Denisov regularly took part in the work in juries of the famous International competitions
for composition in Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany...,
headed several master-classes in Lucerne and so on.
During 1990-1991 he worked in the electronic studio of IRCAM, Paris (“Sur la Nappe
d’un Etang Glace”). Since 1990 he headed the Association for Contemporary Music in
Moscow.
Since 1994 Denisov lived in Paris.
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