the music of Tikhon Khrennikov (1913-2007)

[DennisS]

Hello Christopher

As a great admirer of Khrennikov, I was intrigued by your question re- Cello concerto no 2. Sadly, I have neither of the cello concertos. Having started this thread however, I felt I should do some further research. As you know, his 3 symphonies, 3 PCs and VC are all relatively easy to find (I have them all). That said, there does not seem to be any cd recording of either cello concerto. I discovered however that Rostopovitch (surprise, surprise!) did in fact record at least one of the concertos on LP - I think in 1964. If you were absolutely hell bent on getting a recording, the LP is still available in the US. I found a couple of obscure(?) rare LP suppliers in the US who still offer the LP. You can find them on the web quite easily by typing in Khrennikov cello concerto. Sorry I can't be of more help but hope this info is useful. P.S. I too would like a copy of his cello concerto but I cannot abide the crackling/static on all those old LPs!
Cheers
Dennis

[Christopher]

Thanks for your reply Dennis.  I actually have a copy of the Rostropovich Khrennikov VC1, and can happily email it to you if you give me your email address.  It took me years to find it.  The source I eventually got it from told me the following:
"Russian Disc was sued by Rostropovich, as he did not give permission for the performance rights. However, the recordings belonged to a Russian radio archive, and the recordings were legal (EMI put out a 13 CD box in 1997, with many of those same recordings, though they were monaural, while the Russian Disc recordings were stereo). The 3 people who owned Russian Disc could not afford an attorney, and caved-in to Rostropovich. Rostropovich publicly destroyed all of the CD's that featured him (the Khrennikov you're looking for was one of those discs), so about 500 copies may have been sold, before the company folded."

I have seen references on the net to LP recordings of the VC2 (eg - http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/khrenn.htm which references LP Melodiya C10 24747 002: Moscow Philharmonic SO, V. Gergiev (cond), M. Brunello (cello) )

Some of the correspondents on this thread also imply they have a copy.

[gentile]

I hope to hear the late string quartet and cello sonata he wrote, sometime, but am not sure they've been recorded yet.

Both the 1988 String quartet Op.33 and the 1989 Cello Sonata Op.34 have been recorded in a CD devoted to Khrennikov's chamber music issued by the Russian label Kapelmeister (KAP 012). Interestingly, this very same CD contains the hitherto only recording of his 4th Piano Concerto Op.37 of 1991. It can be obtained from Russian CD dealers through e-bay.
Also, for Khrennikov lovers, I would recommend to search secondhand dealers for an old Russian Disc CD (RD CD 10 070) recording of his ballet "Napoleon Bonaparte", which contains some of his most powerful music. His "Three pieces for violin and orchestra Op.26" performed by Igor Oistrakh on Audiophile Classics (APL 101.532) are also well worth to pursue.

[JimL]

Thanks for your reply Dennis.  I actually have a copy of the Rostropovich Khrennikov VC1, and can happily email it to you if you give me your email address.  It took me years to find it.  The source I eventually got it from told me the following:
"Russian Disc was sued by Rostropovich, as he did not give permission for the performance rights. However, the recordings belonged to a Russian radio archive, and the recordings were legal (EMI put out a 13 CD box in 1997, with many of those same recordings, though they were monaural, while the Russian Disc recordings were stereo). The 3 people who owned Russian Disc could not afford an attorney, and caved-in to Rostropovich. Rostropovich publicly destroyed all of the CD's that featured him (the Khrennikov you're looking for was one of those discs), so about 500 copies may have been sold, before the company folded."

I have seen references on the net to LP recordings of the VC2 (eg - http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/khrenn.htm which references LP Melodiya C10 24747 002: Moscow Philharmonic SO, V. Gergiev (cond), M. Brunello (cello) )

Some of the correspondents on this thread also imply they have a copy.

I think your terminologies are mixed up, Christopher.  VC is Violin Concerto.  I think you mean CC.

[Christopher]

Thanks JimL - yet sorry for mixing up.  I always think "violoncello" when I see "VC".  But I did mean that I have a recording of the Cello Concerto No.1 with Rostropovich, and that link I posted references a recording of the Cello Concerto No.2!

[JSK]

This morning I was listening to Khrennikov's second symphony and reading this thread.

As fate would have it, a couple hours ago I stumbled across a rare CD of Schnittke and Khrennikov's Love for Love Suite at the Goodwill for $3. Can't wait to get the chance to listen to it!

[vandermolen]

Hello, I am new here.

I like Khrennikov's Second Symphony - especially the darkly moving conclusion to the slow movement and the jaunty, annoying tune in the finale which stays in the mind.  Oddly enough I  once saw Khrennikov in the flesh. It was New Year's Day 1986 and I was on a trip to the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.  They were playing a rather anonymous and amorphous work - at the end of which a spotlight was directed at one of the boxes in the theatre; and there, alone, was the lugubrious figure of Tikhon Khrennikov, whom I recognised from a photo.

[Alan Howe]

I have moved alberto's post to this previous thread in order to avoid duplication...

<<Today unsung, in the past not so (even in the West), T.K. appears to have been the politically more prominent of Soviet composers since 1948 and for decades (appointed personally by Stalin as Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers).
Unlikely to be mentioned or remembered as a "symphatetic guy", he appears however a not ungifted composer.
At least in the Symphony n.1 op.4 (1935, T.K. aged 22) he is not negligible (the work was premiered in US by Stokowsky in 1936).I have a "Monitor" LP recording by Gauk. Svetlanov recorded all three symphonies (not heard by me).
The Violin Concerto op.14 is rather tuneful (I have a LP recording with Kogan, Leningrad Phil. and K.Sanderling- remote "Joker " label. Other exists (even by Vengerov and Repin when -I suppose- T.K. power had faltered).
More ordinary for me (but playful) "Three songs for violin and orch. op.26 (I have a CD "Audiophile Classics" by Igor Oistrakh, cond. A.Katz). I don't know other works (he -with a lot of political charges- reached op.42).
About performances:
Oddly enough (at least for the first one) the First Symphony has been performed in Torino three times (not by Soviet visiting orchestras, but by the Torino Radio Orchestra).
The first , an absolute oddity, in wartime 1941, conducted by Willy Ferrero (a former child prodigy and a great conductor, himself worthy a digression), who evidently chose himself the work (and succeeded in conducting it in wartime).
The second in 1960 was conducted by Kirill Kondrashin (then aged 46). Maybe it was a "duty" for the great conductor (certainly not an "apparatus" man).
The third was conducted in 1974 by the young Mariss Jansons (born 1943) on the occasion of a three concert "Festival of Russian and Soviet Union in the frame of cultural exchanges between Italy and Soviet Union".
On that occasion Yuri Temirkanov conducted a (rather fine) Sviridov cantata . The rest was Sciostakovich (living), Tchaicovskj and Prokofiev.
Has anyone some to say/comment about T.K.?>>   

[eschiss1]

I like what I've heard by him, and now that I know a recording has been made of his later chamber music (quartet, cello sonata) really should try to get a listen to it.

[Alan Howe]

I can't say I think much of Khrennikov - especially when compared to an unsung master like Weinberg. Not enough guts and originality for me.

[fyrexia]

Although i still do enjoy a few of Khrennikov works, specially his pc no.1 and 2. Sometimes i still like to compare him with shostakovich, because its like comparing steibelt to beethoven.

All best,

Tony

[eschiss1]

though to be fair, until recently most of us classical fans knew very little by Steibelt either in score or on recording to compare that composer to anyone. (Thanks to e.g. BSB for uploading quite a few of his chamber works to give a better view of his output. Comparing someone to Beethoven is easy, comparing him to Herz, Louis Berger, Reissiger, or Henri Rosellen is harder when one knows only one or two works of his and those possibly among his worst.)

[imirizaldu]

I studied a one page easy piano piece by Khrennikov,  a Berceuse. Beautiful little piece. Then i read about Khrennikpv s polotical trajectory and  i have to say that was it for me with this composer ... But i m intrigued now.

[Christopher]

I studied a one page easy piano piece by Khrennikov,  a Berceuse. Beautiful little piece. Then i read about Khrennikpv s polotical trajectory and  i have to say that was it for me with this composer ... But i m intrigued now.

Read the Economist's obituary to Khrennikon of August 2007 - http://www.economist.com/node/9721710  - the magazine is decidedly anti all things Soviet, but their obituary to him is surprisingly sympathetic.  One interesting passage - "he attended Prokofiev's funeral in 1953 and helped his first wife when she came out of prison. Though he publicly disliked the avant-garde music of Alfred Schnittke, he was among the first to help Schnittke when he suffered a stroke in 1985. And he was instrumental in inviting Igor Stravinsky to Russia in 1962. He was part of a ruthless system; but he did not deliver up Jewish composers to Stalin's goons, and did not write negative references when the party demanded them. (Instead, he would say that the composer had been warned of the dangers of modernism, as if the lesson was already safely learned.) None of the composers he had charge of was killed; very few were arrested. Many, however, reported on him—for being influenced by his Jewish wife, Klara Vaks, and for sheltering Jews. "

It is certainly true that he lived in very difficult times.  Probably in order to be able to some good (described above), he had to be seen to be playing the game and upholding the system. It's not easy to sit in judgment.

As another remark, we can have little idea of the character traits of long-dead composers, but that doesn't stop us appreciating and loving their music!  Who is to know if Mozart wasn't incredibly annoying, Handel a glutton, Tchaikovsky too morose to tolerate, etc etc?!  Also – many wrote music to glorify their patrons who were often politically powerful figures in regimes that today we would disapprove of.

[imirizaldu]

Absoultely, i guess what  iread about him may have been biased. And i agree with you ... music comes first. Thank you!