Last three-four month I’ve been studying works of Galina Ustvolskaya, one of the lesser known 20th century Russian composers, born 1919 and died 2006, who spent whole of her life in St.Petersburg, Russia, my home town. She was Shostakovich’s pupil and studied under his supervision in St.Petersburg State Conservatory, where she completed her degree and doctorate.
Due to her radical approach to harmony, melody, dynamics and unusual choice of instruments for orchestral pieces, most of her works were barely played during soviet times of Russia. She’s got a prominence only after crush of USSR, when she already ceased to write new music, experiencing difficulties due to health issues.
There only a few materials and interviews available to get a sense of her absolute non-conformism and total devotion to music. Couple of documentaries, one of them devoted to recording of her second symphony (1979) in Amsterdam (watch). And few books in Russian about her works and interviews, written by her pupil Olga Gladkova.
Here I recorded first half of her 12 Preludes, that is a good example of how she approaches writing that evolves in her bigger works. This set was written in 1953, same year as Stalin’s death.