July--September 2022
 Some Chamber Music by Ukrainian Composers Published by Edition Silvertrust

Arkady Filippenko was born in the small Ukrainian village of Pushcha-Vodycia now a suburb of Kyiv (Kiev). He began his formal musical training quite late and only after he had already graduated from vocational school. He eventually came to the attention of the composer  Ilya Vilensky who was director of a local music school. There Filippenko learned to play the piano, studied music theory and composition, all while working as a metal turner at a shipbuilding factory. As he progressed quickly, Vilensky sent him on to the Lysenko Music Institute, the most important music school in the Ukraine and the forerunner of the Kyiv Conservatory. Filippenko began as a night student but eventually obtained permission study full-time. His main teachers were Lev Revutsky, Victor Kosenko and Boris Liatoshinsky. After graduating from the Institute in 1939, he was immediately drafted into the Red Army where he was fortunate enough to remain in a military orchestra throughout the Second World War. After the war, Filippenko returned to Kyiv where he pursued a career as a composer, winning the State Prize of the USSR in 1948 for this work. Filppenko was one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Composers Union and in the mid 1950's served as its executive secretary and vice-president. He wrote for nearly every genre. We think his string quartets are as good as those of Shostakovich. Click Here to see and  hear them

Vladimir Dyck (1882-1943 in the then Russian now Ukrainian city of Odessa. His showed early ability on the piano and when Tchaikovsky came to the city in 1893, it is thought that Dyck was one of many of the so-called 'wunderkind children' whose parents accosted Tchaikovsky begging him to listen to and evaluate their child's playing. If so, nothing came of it. However, the following year, when Rimsky Korsakov came to Odessa to conduct a memorial concert for Tchaikovsky, Dyck met and played for him. Korsakov encouraged Dyck's father to continue his son's musical education. But when Dyck came to St Petersburg a few years later, Korsakov suggested that the young man continue his studies Paris. He provided Dyck with a letter of introduction and that along with Dyck's audition was enough for him to gain admission to the Paris Conservatory in 1899 where he studied harmony with Antoine Taudou and composition with Charles-Marie Widor. After graduating, he pursued a career as a composer, initially writing classical compositions but later concetrating on writing music for silent films.animato, We publish his Piano Trio

Feodor Akimenko (also Theodor and Yakimenko 1876-1945) was born in the village of Pisky near the city of Kharkov in the Ukraine. He was educated at the St. Petersburg Conservatory where he studied with Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov. After graduating, he held teaching positions in Tbilisi, Nice, Kharkov, and Prague. He eventually emigrated to France and spent the last 20 years of his life in Paris and Nice. Stravinsky was among his many composition students. His music shows the influence of the French impressionists. To see the work of his we publish Click Here.

  Dmytro Klebanov (1907-1987 Dmitri is the Russian form of the Ukrainian name Dmytro). He was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (then known as Kharkov and part of the Russian empire). He studied piano, viola and composition at the Kharkiv Music and Drama Institute. After briefly playing viola in the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, he returned to Kharkiv where he pursued a career as a composer, conductor and teacher, eventually becoming a professor at the Kharkiv Conservatory in 1960. His first symphony, composed in 1945 and titled "In Memoriam to the Martyrs of Babi Yar" was attacked by Stalinist music critics who found it anti-patriotic. He was accused of distortion of the historic truth about the Soviet people and of national narrow-mindedness. Shortly thereafter, Stalin made his famous attack on Soviet artists with the result that Soviet Composers were forced to compose politically correct works of "socialist realism." We publish his String Quartet No.4.

Ivan Krzhanovsky (1867-1924, sometimes spelled Krizhanovsky) was born in Kiev. Although he became a doctor and a well-known research scientist, he also studied music, first at the Kiev Conservatory, where he took violin lessons from the famous teacher Otakar Sevcik. Later he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov. He followed a dual career as a researcher at Pavlov's famous institute but also served as a professor at the Petersburg (later Leningrad) Conservatory. We publish is Cello Sonata.

Boris Lyatoshinsky (1895-1968), was born in the Ukrainian town of Zhytomir then part of the Russian Empire. After studying piano and violin locally, he moved to Kyiv (Kiev) and enrolled in the law school of Kiev University as well as simultaneously entering the Kiev Conservatory, studying composition with Reinhold Gliére. After graduating from the Conservatory, he obtained a teaching position there and subsequently became a professor both there and at the Moscow Conservatory. Besides composing, he was an active and sought after conductor. He is generally considered the father of contemporary Ukrainian music. He wrote in all genres and did not ignore chamber music, which includes five string quartets, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, two piano trios and instrumental several sonatas. His earliest compositions were romantic and lyrical in style, influenced mostly by Schumann and Borodin. Later, the impressionist music of Scriabin attracted him. However, under Stalinism, he returned to using folkloric themes, especially those of Ukraine. We publish his String Quartet No.4.

Andrei Shtogarenko (1902-1992) was born in the Ukrainian town of Noviye Kaydaki. He studied music at the Kharkov Conservatory. As a composer, he was well-known within the Soviet Union, but he and his music remain entirely unknown elsewhere. He won the USSR State Prize for his compositions in 1946 and 1952 and was awarded the prestigious title of Peoples' Artist of the USSR. During his long career, he served in many positions, including Professor of Composition and Director of the Kharkov Conservatory. He composed in nearly every genre, writing several works for orchestra, solo piano, voice, and also a number of film scores. Chamber music comprises only a small part of his output. Shtogarenko's works show the influence of Mussorgsky and Borodin in that many tend to be of a programmatic and descriptive nature including his Armenian Sketches for String Quartet which we publish.

Alexander Winkler (1865-1935) was born in the then Russian city of Kharkov (today Kharkiv in the Ukraine) He studied piano and composition locally and then in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He continued his studies in Paris and Vienna before returning to Kharkov where he taught piano for a number of years before being appointed to a professorship at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Sergei Prokoviev was among his many students. In 1924, he emigrated to France and served as director of the Conservatory in Besancon. We publish several of his works. To see and hear them Click Here.

Sergei Yuferov (1865-1927 variously spelled Youferov, Youferoff etc. Some sources list his birth as 1856) was born in the Russian city of Odessa to a wealthy family possibly of noble rank. He studied composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Alexander Glazunov and piano with Nikolai Klenovsky, then subsequently in Moscow with Nikolai Hubert. He was active both as a composer, pianist and lawyer. He spent several years serving as music director in the Russian now Ukrainan city of Kherson, where he also held administrative positions. He is said to have worked on codifying Russian copyright law as it pertained to music. Peripatetic, he also lived at various times in Leipzig, Dresden as well as in Lausanne and Geneva. We publish his Piano Trio.