Viktor Suslin
Encyclopedia
Miass
Miass is a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located west of Chelyabinsk, on the eastern slope of the southern Urals, on the bank of the Miass River. Population: -History:...
, Ural
Ural (region)
Ural is a geographical region located around the Ural Mountains, between the East European and West Siberian plains. It extends approximately from north to south, from the Arctic Ocean to the bend of Ural River near Orsk city. The boundary between Europe and Asia runs along the eastern side of...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) is a Russian composer living in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as of 1981.
Biography
At the age of four (1946), Suslin began to study piano and made his first attempts at compositionMusical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. From 1950 to 1962 he attended Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
Music High School, and from 1961 to 1962 at Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
Conservatory studied composition with Dimitri Klebanov
Dimitri Klebanov
Dmitri Lvovich Klebanov 1907 in Kharkiv – 6 June 1987 in Kharkiv) was a renowned Ukrainian composer. He studied at the Kharkiv Music and Drama Institute with S. Bogatyryov. He taught at the Kharkiv Conservatory...
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
with V. Topilin. From 1962 to 1966 he studied composition with Nikolay Peyko
Nikolay Peyko
Nikolay Ivanovich Peyko or Peiko was a Russian composer and professor of composition....
and piano with Anatoly Vedernikov at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
He worked as an editor at the publishing house Muzyka in Moscow (1966–1980).
Suslin became a member of the Union of Soviet Composers
Union of Soviet Composers
The USSR Union of Composers or Union of Composers of the USSR , , was a professional organisation of composers in the Soviet Union...
in 1967. In 1969 his piano sonata was given an award at the Young Composers Competition. In 1971 his music was performed outside of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for the first time at the Festival de Royan, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Suslin taught instrumentation at the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
(1972–1975). In 1975 he founded the ‘Astraea’ improvisation ensemble together with Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov also Artemov is a Russian and Soviet composer.-Biography:Artyomov first studied physics at the Moscow University, then later studied music. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1968 where studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov. He became a member of the...
and Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
.
In November 1979 after several performances of his works in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Suslin was publicly denounced and blacklisted as one of the "Khrennikov's Seven
Khrennikov's Seven
Khrennikov’s Seven was a group of seven Russian Soviet composers denounced at the Sixth Congress of the Composers' Union by its leader Tikhon Khrennikov for the unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. Khrennikov called their music "pointlessness... and noisy mud...
" at the Sixth Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers
Union of Soviet Composers
The USSR Union of Composers or Union of Composers of the USSR , , was a professional organisation of composers in the Soviet Union...
for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West.
Suslin emigrated to West Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
1981. From 1984 he has worked as an editor at Musikverlag Hans Sikorski
Hans Sikorski
Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski is an international sheet music publishing company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.The music publishing firm of Hans Sikorski was founded in 1935 and now comprises more than 30 publishers in several European countries and in the USA...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
Works
- Music for Children for piano (1961)
- Violin Sonata (1962)
- String Quartet (1963)
- Japanese Songs for baritone and piano (1964)
- Five pieces for piano (1965)
- Poem for orchestra (1966)
- Piano concerto (1966)
- Piano Sonata (1968)
- Violin Concerto (1969)
- Sinfonia piccolo for orchestra (1970)
- Trio-Sonata for flute, guitar and cello (1971)
- Three Choruses after Daniil KharmsDaniil KharmsDaniil Kharms was an early Soviet-era surrealist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. One of his pseudonyms, which was signed in Latin alphabet, was Daniel Charms.- Life :...
(1972) - Gioco Appassionato for 4 violas (1974)
- Patience for 2 pianos (1974)
- Mitternachtsmusik (Midnight Music) for volin, harpsichords and double bass (1977)
- Poco a poco II, Organ Sonata No.1 (1978)
- Terrarium for percussion ensemble (1978)
- Leb’ wohl for orchestra (1982)
- In My End is My Beginning, Organ Sonata No.2 (1983)
- Chanson contre raison, Sonata for solo cello (1984)
- Sonata Capricciosa for viola and harpsichord (1986)
- Lamento for Organ (1989)
- Crossing Beyond for viola, cello and double bass (1990)
- Le deuil blanc (White Mourning) for bass flute, guitar, cello and percussions (1994)
- Cello Concerto (1996)
- Two Pieces for piano (1996)
- Hommage à "Hortus" by a Musicus for an ensemble of Renaissance instruments (1996)
- Morgendämmerungsmusik (Morning Twilight Music) for double bass (1997)
- Madrigal for two cellos (1998)
- Ton H for cello and piano (2001)
- Raga for double bass and organ (2006)