RUSSIAN MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 175, 25 July 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

RUSSIAN MUSIC.

FROM GLINKA TO SCRIABIN.

Those music lovers who are interested ill Russian music, and who would like to know more about the lives and personalities of the composers, _ will find ".Masters of Russian \Music"_ (Duckworth) a most interesting guide to a fuller knowledge as well as a useful reference book, one for/which the claim is made that it is "more accurate than any hitherto available in any non-Rus-sian language." The author,?, M. D. Calvocoressi and Gerald Abraham, two well-known authoritative writers 011 musical matters, have presented more or less brief, but frank biographies of 14 Russian composers, commencing with (ilinka (1804) and continuing in chronological order to Glazunof (still living at date of publication). Both writers havo a bright but scholarly stjle, anil do full justice to their subjects. .Lhe writing of the lives and works of these composers also chronicles, incidentally, tho birth and development of Russian j national music; for while there were Russian composers before Glinka, most of them were saturated with Italianism. Glinka was tho founder of the present Russian symphonic school. It may be observed here that tho authors concentrated upon the biographical side of their subjects, presenting them as human beings —very human some of them. From an extensive bibliography, mostly in Russian, and new critical materials that have recently cropped up, the writers have taken quotations which give the composers' outlook, aims, methods, artistic, descent and influence. Xot the least interesting feature of these quotations, many,of which are taken from contemporary letters, is the candid criticism expressed by the writers about their own compositions. They frequently 1 sought the advice of their fellow musicians who, by constructive, criticism, helped -them to reshape their compositions into the form in which we hear them to-day. It is fairly well known that, owing to the low esteem in which the musical profession was held in those days, many of the early Russian composers started by treating their musical proclivities as simply a "hobby." They made their living in other walks of life. The following are the composers dealt with in this book, their other activities being shown in parentheses:—Glinka, (civil servant), Dargomyjsky (civil servant), Serof (civil servant), Balakiref (railway oflicial), Cui (military engineer —authority on fortifications), Borodin (world-famous scientist and chemist), Mussorgsky (soldier), Tchaikovsky (law clerk), Rimsky-Korsakoff (naval officer), Liadof, Glazunof, Liapunof, T'aneief, Scriabin (soldier). From this list it will bo seen that the authors have written about several composers such as Dargomvjsky and Balakiref, about whom little has hitherto been known.

There are over 500 pages in this interesting book—and not a dry one among them.