NEWS AND EVENTS

A NEW BIOGRAPHY OF ALEXANDER TCHEREPNIN
The Tcherepnin Society is pleased to announce that the first full-length English-language biography of Alexander Tcherepnin to reach print—Alexander Tcherepnin: The Saga of a Russian Emigré Composer by the distinguished Russian musicologist Ludmila Korabelnikova—was published by Indiana University Press on October 23, 2007 and is now available through the IUP website (price $39.95).

Click here to purchase this book from Indiana University Press.

American Musicological Society Conventioners gather at the Indiana U. Press Exhibit

Originally written in Russian and subsidized by a grant from The Tcherepnin Society, Dr. Korabelnikova’s book was published in Moscow in 1999, the first Russian-language biography of Tcherepnin ever to appear.  The present English translation was commissioned by The Tcherepnin Society from Anna Winestein and edited by Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Secretary of the Tcherepnin Society.  With Hershman-Tcherepnin’s aid, and drawing on the Tcherepnin expertise of our Board Members Phillip Ramey, Benjamin Folkman and Serge Tcherepnin, Korabelnikova corrected a few inaccuracies in original source materials, and introduced important clarifications to aid English language readers unfamiliar with Russian culture.

L-R: Musicologist Susan Weiss (Peabody Conservatory), Indiana U. Press Music & Humanities Editor Jane Behnken, Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin

In her account of Tcherepnin’s life, Dr. Korabelnikova utilized materials previously unexamined by scholars, including Tcherepnin’s Russian-language journals, letters, and articles.  Of particular value are the music reviews that Tcherepnin published as a young composer in Tiflis in 1919–21, and extensive sequences of letters to his father detailing the artistic and technical issues he confronted in composing three of his most ambitious works: Symphony No. 1, Op. 42, Piano Quintet, Op. 44 and the opera The Wedding of Sobeide, Op. 45.  Korabelnikova also drew on articles written by Tcherepnin in French and English concerning the practical and aesthetic challenges faced by modern composers.  An appendix contains the full text of Tcherepnin’s Basic Elements of my Musical Language, an explanation of his composing methods, excerpts of which are presented on our Tcherepnin Society website.

Sue-Ellen speaks with a conventioner about the new biography

As the volume’s subtitle indicates, Ms. Korabelnikova has produced something more than a biography.  The author felt compelled to place Tcherepnin within the rich 20th century trove of Russian émigré culture: an area that, for political reasons, was severely neglected by Russian musicologists during the Soviet era.  Nikolai and Alexander Tcherepnin figured prominently among the many refugee composers, artists and writers who strove to preserve Russian national traditions in their own work while popularizing Russian arts abroad.  Ms. Korabelnikova’s picture of their activities adds a new dimension to the general understanding of the work of both Tcherepnin composers.  Equally illuminating is her account of musical and artistic life in Tiflis, the first stage of Alexander Tcherepnin’s lifelong odyssey.  Here she traces the influence of Slavic ethnic musics upon the distinctive scales that Tcherepnin developed.

The 288-page biography is copiously provided with musical examples, and contains several black and white photographs.  For anyone interested in the life and work of Alexander Tcherepnin, it is indispensable reading.

Alaria Chamber Players recently issued a CD devoted entirely to works of Alexander Tcherepnin. Five significant scores are included: Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 34; Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 30, No. 1; Violin Sonata, Op. 14; Suite for Solo Cello, Op. 76; and Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 49. The CD is distributed by Alaria, and may be obtained through its website: www.alaria.org or by mail: Alaria Chamber Ensemble, 949 West End Ave., Apt. 11-C, New York, NY 10025.

Ivan Tcherepnin's Pensamiento for flute and piano has recently been published by M.P. Belaieff Editions. As of August 1, 2006, all Belaieff publications are now handled by Schott Music.

On Feb. 4, 2007, Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble will present Sergei Tcherepnin's look up firefly the night is calling as part of its Young Composers' Festival, at First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough St., 6:30 pm panel discussion, 7:30 concert For more information, go to: www.dinosaurannex.org