German Galynin - Aria for Violin and String Orchestra (1959)

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German Galynin (1922-1966) - Aria for Violin and String Orchestra (1959)
Violin - Bohodar Kotorovych
Conductor - Zakhary Kozharsky
Zakhary Kozharsky's Chamber Orchestra
Recorded in Kiev, 1976
Unlike his early works, the Aria for violin and string orchestra is a more intimate, meditatively lyrical and at the same time profoundly philosophical piece. The work's mood and imagery have determined its structure and choice of expressive media. In the simple and stirring music of the Aria, imnued with noble sincerity, are skilfully combined traditions of old West-European classical music with a modern idiom deeply rooted in Russian folk-song.
The most important semantic element of its well-balanced, clearly-defined yet freely developing form (approaching the compound ternary) is the middle episode in F-sharp Major, with a dramatic recitative as its central section. The first and third parts are based on a particularly bright lyrical theme.
Its restrained emotionality, plastic form and, most important of all, meaningful idea and general warmth of feeling, make the Aria a typical example of Galynin's style.
(The Preface by E. Fedosova)
Raised in an orphanage ["children's home"], he taught himself to play several folk instruments and the piano. In 1941, after Operation Barbarossa began and when he was already a student at Moscow Conservatory, he joined the army as a volunteer, there directing various grass-roots performances, and writing songs and music to dramas. In 1943-50 (1945-50, according to other sources) he resumed his studies at the Moscow Conservatory under Dmitri Shostakovich and Nikolay Myaskovsky (in composition) and Igor Sposobin (in music theory). Inasmuch as in 1948 Shostakovich was accused of "formalism" in music, the same tendencies were detected in the works of his pupils, particularly Galynin. Tikhon Khrennikov criticized Galynin's First Piano Concerto in particular, although later (in 1957) he denied such an assessment. Nevertheless, the composer was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951 for his "Epic Poem" (1950).
Despite falling seriously ill with schizophrenia in 1951 and in consequence spending a considerable part of his life in hospitals and psychiatric clinics, Galynin remained an active composer. His work is a bright phenomenon in Soviet classical music though still underestimated, unfortunately, in his homeland and largely overlooked in the West. Within the well-developed system of public Children's Music Schools in Russia and the former Soviet republics Galynin is most gratefully remembered for his short and easy pieces of music composed for beginners, some of them being variations of popular folk melodies. "The composer’s bright and original talent was a union of melodic generosity, picturesque harmonies, a sense of modern colouring, and elegance of classical form", the Encyclopedia of Music (Moscow, 1973) wrote of him.
Galynin died in Moscow in 1966. (From Wikipedia)
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Герман Галынин (1922-1966) - Ария для скрипки и струнного оркестра (1959)
Скрипач - Богодар Которович
Дирижёр - Захарий Кожарский
Камерный оркестр Захария Кожарского
Запись 1976 года.
"Ария" для скрипки и струнного оркестра, в отличие от предшествовавших сочинений, представляет собой более интимную и углублённую, но одновременно и возвышенно-философскую форму лирического высказывания. Образный строй произведения определил особенности её композиционного построения и выбор музыкально-выразительных средств, Простая, полная обаяния и благородной искренности музыка "Арии", тонко сочетает традиции западноевропейской старинной классики с современным, но уходящим своими корнями в глубь русской народной песенности, музыкальным языком.
Произведение отличается уравновешенной, строго очерченной и в то же время свободно развивающейся формой (приближающейся к сложной трёхчастности), в которой главную смысловую нагрузку несёт средний эпизод Fis-dur с драматическим речитативом в центре. В основе крайних частей лежит лирическая, особенно светло звучащая тема.
В "Арии" нашли воплощение типичные для композитора черты стиля: сдержанность в выражении эмоций, пластичность формы, а главное, в ней присутствуют глубокая серьёзность мысли и сердечность тона.
(Из предисловия Э. Федосовой)