Andre Volkonsky

about

Prince Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky (Russian: Андрей Михайлович Волконский, February 14, 1933 in Geneva, Switzerland – September 16, 2008 in Aix-en-Provence, France) was a Russian composer of classical music, conductor and harpsichordist. He was a key figure in Early Music Revival in Russia. A descendant of a Russian aristocratic princely family in exile, he was born in Geneva in 1933. As a child he played his improvisations to Sergei Rachmaninoff. Then he studied piano with the legendary Dinu Lipatti. The Volkonsky family resettled in Moscow in 1947. From 1950 to 1954 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Yuri Shaporin, but was expelled for breaking some minor disciplinary rules. In 1956 Volkonsky began the career of a harpsichord player and a conductor. He pioneered performing renaissance and baroque music, which had hitherto not been played in the Soviet Union. In 1965 he founded an ensemble of early music, called ‘Madrigal’. He was among the first Soviet composers who began experimenting with twelve-tone and serial techniques. An early work in this style was his piano suite "Musica Stricta" (1956). His works greatly influenced his colleagues. Composing such music at that time was an act of courage: it was a protest against the suppression of freedom, and specifically against the requirement that the composers in Soviet Russia followed the narrowly-prescribed doctrines of the Socialist Realism. It is not surprising that his music, attempting at a real renewal and

top songs

albums

▥

J.S. Bach - WTC I, CD 1 (Lyrinx LP)

▥

J.S. Bach - WTC I, CD 2 (Lyrinx LP)

▥

Mirror Suite

▥

Orchestral Works

▥

J.S. Bach - WTC I, CD 1 (Lyrin

▥

Wergo Collection II - Music of Our Time

▥

Harpsichord

J.S. Bach - WTC I

▥

J.S. Bach - WTC II

▥

К 65-летию со дня рождения

▥

Andrey Volkonskiy - Composer And Performer

▥

Early Works

similar artists