Kazakh classical music

[Christopher]

Who knew?!

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Divox/CDX215016

Kazakh Classical Music
Divox: CDX215016

Sagyrbaiuly Kurmangazy (1823-1896): - Adai
arr. for string quartet by G. Uzembayeva

Tolegen Mombekov (1918-97): - Saltanat
arr. for string quartet by K. Shildebayev

Qazangapuly Tattimbet (1815-1862): - Kos Basar
arr. for string quartet by Arman Zhaiym

Arman Zhaiym (b.1983): - String Quartet

Abdimomyn Zheldibayev (b.1934): - Yerke Sylkym
arr. for string quartet by G. Uzembayeva

Gaziza Zhubanova (1927-1993): - String Quartet No. 1
String Quartet No. 2

The «Kazakh State String Quartet» named in honour of Gaziza A. Zhubanova, was founded in 1988. It has won numerous prizes at international competitions and was elected best ensemble of the «Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia» in Madrid. The members of the quartet received a Master of Arts (musical performance and chamber music) in Basel, Switzerland, in 2012 after studies with Prof. Rainer Schmidt (successor at the Walter Levin chair). The two string quartets of the important composer and music teacher Gaziza Zhubanova (1927-1993), as well as the quartet debut of the highly promising up-and-coming composer Arman Zhaiym (* 1983), are the focus of this new cultural bridge building production - realized on the 25th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan in December 2016. These works are framed by important original compositions by Kazakh composers arranged for string quartets.

A couple of the composers lived in the era which is of interest to this forum.  No idea (yet) what their music is like though...

[Alan Howe]

Well, you can hear excerpts if you follow the link. There's not much of relevance to UC, I'm afraid.

[Christopher]

Oh dear.  (Sorry, I usually post from work so I can't listen to fragments.)

[UnsungMasterpieces]

I did come across this 'Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly' a year ago I think.
But I had no idea that one of his compositions would be released in the near future!

[Alan Howe]

Oh dear.  (Sorry, I usually post from work so I can't listen to fragments.)

Not to worry. Perhaps your post will nevertheless prompt some further discussion...

[semloh]

I immediately went to my folder marked 'Kazakhstan', and found works by four composers Sapaev (his Sinfonietta is rather attractive), Kuzhamyarov, Zhubanov, and Kazhgaliev. All compositions tend toward that rather martial style you expect from composers working in a Soviet state, and none fit UC's remit. I wonder if others on UC have found works that do?

[Christopher]

Well there's Yevgeny Brusilovsky (1905-1981) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Brusilovsky - he wrote, it could be said, in a late-romantic way, at least his music is not dissonant.  His "Lonely Birch (lyric poem for orchestra on Themes from "Abai's Songs")", written in 1942, is OK, if kitsch in parts.  Certainly not "great" music. It's on youtube for anyone curious. (Abai was a revered Kazakh national poet, 1845-1904.)

How "Kazakh" he was, as opposed to an ethnic Russian living in Kazakhstan, is debatable.  Certainly if he was alive today and living there, he would be a citizen of Kazakhstan.  His wikipedia entry says In 1933 he was sent to Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan (then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) to study the folk music of the region, and stayed there for the rest of his life. From 1934 to 1936 he was the Music Director of the Kazakh National Theatre, and from 1949 to 1951 the Artistic Director of the Philharmonic. He founded the Abay Opera House in 1934. Brusilovsky taught at the Alma-Ata Conservatory (now the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory) from 1944, becoming Professor of Composition in 1955...Yevgeny Brusilovsky frequently used the music and legends of Kazakhstan in his compositions. 

There's some other of his work on youtube too