Vladimir Vlasov … composer
Vaslov
Vladimir Vlasov was born in Moscow on Christmas Day in 1902 … well, at least, in was 25th December in Moscow … which at that time still operated on the Julian calendar … but in the rest of the world, (where the Gregorian calendar had been adopted), it was already 7th January, 1903.
He is known as one of the founders of Kyrgyz Professional Music.
Vlasov He was born into a musical family – his mother a pianist … and he started learning the violin when he was very young and was appearing in concerts when he was just 8 years old.
He grew up and studied in Moscow, where he graduated from the Conservatory, going on to play at the State Drama Theater, teach music, (notably the theory of music and violin), as well as composing, performing, conducting and working in Radio.
He arrived in Kyrgyzstan in 1936, to become the Artistic Director of Musical Drama at what is now the Opera and Ballet Theater.
He was to make made an impact on the creative life of the Republic together with his fellow Muscovite Fere, (who had come to Frunze to be Artistic Director of the Philharmonia and with whom he had already collaborated in Moscow), and the Kyrgyz composer Maldybaev. Together the three were known collectively as “the trio”.
Their first collaborative effort was the musical drama Altyn Kyz, (Golden Girl – which tells the story of a simple mountain girl – her strength and courage that epitomized the awakening of the Kyrgyz people to a new life).
They turned to the folklore of the different peoples of the Soviet Union, their tunes and their songs, legends and poetry, creating independent compositions.
The three also composed the Anthem of the Kyrgyz SSR – here is a clip from youtube:
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This was followed by a host of other works on which the three worked together – the most notable, perhaps, being the opera Aichurek, (Moonlight Beauty), and together with Feret he composed the first Kyrgyz Ballet, Anar, which included a number of folk dancesm songs and games.
He also wrote a lot of pieces on his own. His range included symphonic and chamber music as well as well as opera and ballet, Musical Drama and Operetta, Oratorios and Cantata.
In addition he continued teaching so as to pass on his skills and love of music to the members of a new generation.
Although Vlasov and Fere lived and worked in Kyrgyzstan for just seven years, the topic of Kyrgyz music and culture was to occupy a central place in their work throughout their lives.
During his life he was granted a number of awards, including:
- People’s Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR – 1946
- Honored Artist of the RSFSR – 1947
- State Prize of the Kyrgyz SSR – also known as The Toktogul Prize – 1970
- People’s Artist of Russia – 1973
There have been a number of activities organized to celebrate his 110th Anniversary including lectures and concerts and special programmes in schools and institutes of Higher Education and an exhibition in the National Library.
He died in 1986.
Apart from the National Anthem, it’s not actually that easy to find recordings of his work for … I suppose it’s a fairly limited market, but I did come across these clips on youtube:
Vladimir A. Vlasov - To the fountain of “Bakhchisarai” for flute and piano – featuring Neria Parag playing the flute.
Vladimir Vlasov (1903-1986) : Cello Concerto No 1 (c. 1960) Part 1 of 2
Vladimir Vlasov (1903-1986) : Cello Concerto No 1 (c. 1960) Part 2 of 2
… it’s obviously a (very) small sample of a considerable output and not really enough on which to make a judgement or proper assessment about him and his work but I hope it will give some idea.
Bishkek