Valery Popov (musician)

Last updated

Valery Popov (born 9 September 1937) is a Russian bassoonist, described as the foremost of his era in Russia in his Grove Music Online entry. [1]

Contents

Biography

Popov was born on 9 September 1937 in Moscow. [1] His father, Sergei Petrovich Popov  [ ru ] (1914–2012), was a trumpeter who was a soloist with the USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. [2] Valery Popov at first studied the trumpet, switching to the bassoon in 1957. [3]

In 1959, he joined the Opera-Symphony State Radio and Television orchestra. In 1960 he graduated from the Musical College (in the class of V. Gorbachov) and attended the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with R. Terekhin. [3]

Popov won first prize in the national competition in Leningrad in 1963 as well as in the competition in Budapest in 1965. [1]

In 1962 Popov joined the USSR State Symphony Orchestra [1] [3] as principal bassoonist.[ citation needed ] Shortly thereafter he played the solo part in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring under conductor Robert Craft [ citation needed ] in the presence of the composer. He played with the orchestra for 26 years, under many notable conductors including Evgeny Svetlanov, Natan Rakhlin, Aleksandr Gauk, Kiril Kondrashin, Valery Gergiev and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. From 1988 Popov has played with the State Symphony Capella under conductor Valery Polyansky [3] and in Yuri Kasparov's Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble. [1] [3]

His repertoire includes concertos by Vivaldi, Mozart, Boismortier, Dutilleux, Kozeluh, Zelenka, Weber, J. C. Bach, K. Stamitz, J. Hummel, André Jolivet, Wolf-Ferrari, Villa-Lobos and Tomazi. [3] He was a friend of the composer Vladislav Shoot, [4] and Shoot as well as the composers Yuri Levitin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mikhail Alekseyev, Lev Knipper, Edison Denisov and Alfred Schnittke have all written works for the bassoon dedicated to him. [1] [3] [4] He played works by Gubaidulina at the Centre Acanthes summer school in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in 1998. [5]

Popov has taught at the Moscow Conservatory since 1971, [1] and has been the chair of its woodwind and percussion departments since 1992. [3]

Popov is known nationally and internationally for his many recordings; [1] he has released nearly a hundred under the Melodia, JVC, Chandos, Olympia and Vista Vera labels. [3] These include the major bassoon concertos and solo works, performed with the pianist Alexander Bakhchiev. He plays an instrument made by J. Püchner.[ citation needed ] He has published several collections of studies and orchestral solos for the bassoon. [3]

He was honoured with the title of People's Artist of the Russian Federation in 1986. [3]

Reception

The British bassoonist William Waterhouse describes Popov in his Grove Music Online entry as the foremost bassoonist of his era in Russia; he characterises Popov's playing as "warm and virile". [1] The critic David Schwartz calls Popov "a very influential force in the bassoon world" and describes his pioneering 1989 recording of five Vivaldi concertos as having stimulated interest in recording the concertos. He comments on Popov's "thick, soupy, and robust vibratoladen tone" which pre-dates recent ideas about Baroque performance. [6] A review of concertos by Danzi, Vivaldi and Hummel for American Record Guide describes Popov's playing as "fluid and fluent", with "warm and resonant" tone and "superb" technique. [7] The music critic Donald Vroon in an American Record Guide comparison of recordings of Mozart's bassoon concerto describes his playing as being rather romantic, with "a round, fat tone". [8]

A review in Fanfare praises Popov's 1976 recording of Jolivet's bassoon concerto, and states that he "deftly skates the thin ice between comic and soulful". [9] Another review of the same recording in American Record Guide describes his breath control in the high register as "impressive". [10] Comparing recordings of Denisov's Sonata for Solo Bassoon, Ronald E. Grames prefers Katarzyna Zdybel's performance, considering that Popov is "hard pressed at times to make it sound like more than exercises". [11]

Related Research Articles

A concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Pahud</span> Franco-Swiss flautist (born 1970)

Emmanuel Pahud is a Franco-Swiss flautist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison Denisov</span> Russian composer

Edison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer in the so-called "Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Geringas</span> Lithuanian cellist and conductor

David Geringas is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich)</span> 1957 piano concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, by Dmitri Shostakovich was composed in 1957 for the 19th birthday of his son Maxim, who premiered the piece during his graduation concert at the Moscow Conservatory. It contains many similar elements to Shostakovich's Concertino for Two Pianos: both works were written to be accessible for developing young pianists. It is an uncharacteristically cheerful piece, much more so than most of Shostakovich's works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuri Kasparov</span> Armenian composer

Yuri Sergeyevich Kasparov is a Russian composer, music teacher and a professor at the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied for his doctorate under Edison Denisov. Under the patronage of Denisov, he founded the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble in 1990 and is its artistic director. He is the chairman of the Russian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

Shmuel Ashkenasi is an Israeli violinist and teacher.

John Miller is a musician and bassoonist.

Milan Turković is an Austrian classical bassoonist and conductor. He originates from an Austro-Croatian family, grew up in Vienna and became internationally known as one of the few bassoon soloists. Over the past two decades, he has become a successful conductor, making appearances all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thom de Klerk</span>

Thom de Klerk . Dutch bassoonist, double reed maker, music teacher, conductor and music director. Thom de Klerk was the first solo bassoonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1935 until 1966. He was successful with the directors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum and Bernard Haitink. Guest directors like Eugen Jochum, Arturo Toscanini and Pierre Monteux made special requests for his presence in the orchestra.

Gustavo Núñez is a Uruguayan bassoonist trained at Musikhochschule Hannover and the Royal College of Music. He has served as principal bassoon of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, together with Ronald Karten, since 1995.

Jacques Zoon is a Dutch flutist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Ivashkin</span> Musical artist

Alexander Ivashkin, was a Russian cellist, writer, academic and conductor.

Lyndon Jeffrey Frank Watts is an Australian bassoonist. He is principal bassoonist of the Münchner Philharmoniker and an academic teacher.

Rino Vernizzi was an Italian bassoonist.

French composer André Jolivet wrote his Concerto for Bassoon, String Orchestra, Harp and Piano in 1953–1954. It was premièred on 30 November 1954 by Maurice Allard and the Orchestre Radio-Symphonique, Paris.

Anna Tsybuleva is a Russian classical pianist. She won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2015. As of 2022, she has released two recordings, including a performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Bram van Sambeek is a Dutch bassoon soloist and teacher.

The bassoon repertoire consists of pieces of music composed for bassoon as a principal instrument that may be performed with or without other instruments. Below is a non-exhaustive list of major works for the bassoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Thompson (bassoonist)</span> American bassoonist

Robert Thompson is an American bassoonist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 William Waterhouse (20 January 2001). "Popov, Valery (Sergeyevich)". Grove Music Online doi : 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.22110
  2. ↑ In Memoriam: Sergei Petrovich Popov (1914–2012), International Trumpet Guild (accessed 20 May 2022)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Valery Popov: Curriculum Vitae, Moscow State Conservatory (accessed 19 May 2022)
  4. 1 2 Gerard McBurney (18 May 2022). Vladislav Shoot obituary, The Guardian (accessed 18 May 2022)
  5. ↑ Maria Metaxakis (1998). Centre Acanthes: Russian Music. Tempo 206: 63 JSTOR   945521
  6. ↑ David Schwartz (2014). "Vivaldi: Bassoon Concertos (5)." American Record Guide 77 (5): 178–79
  7. ↑ Carter (1995). "Bassoon Concertos". American Record Guide 58 (1): 217
  8. ↑ Donald Vroon (2008). "Mozart's Concertos". American Record Guide . 71(3): 49–63
  9. ↑ Phillip Scott (2015). "Concerto for Flute and String Orchestra1. Cello Concerto No. 22. Bassoon Concerto3. Piano Concerto4. Symphony No. 15. 5 Ritual Dances5. Rhapsody for Seven6". Fanfare , 38 (5): 267–68
  10. ↑ Don O'Connor (2015). "Jolivet: Flute Concerto; Cello Concerto 2; Bassoon Concerto; Piano Concerto; Symphony 1; 5 Ritual Dances; Rhapsody for 7". American Record Guide 78 (2): 109
  11. ↑ Ronald E. Grames (2014). Katarzyna Zdybel: Portrait. Fanfare 38 (2): 649–50
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.