Rakov, Nikolay Petrovich: Composer, conductor, pianist, violinist, teacher.
Композитор, педагог, дирижёр.
Родился 1/14 марта 1908 года в Калуге. В 1931 году окончил Московскую консерваторию по классу композиции P. M. Глиэра. В июле 1941 года ушёл в Народное ополчение, но был отозван. С 1949 года выступал в качестве дирижёра с исполнением, в том числе, собственных сочинений. Для творчества Ракова характерно обращение к русскому народно–песенному мелосу, к фольклору разных народов СССР, преобладание светлого, лирического настроя. Наиболее известен Первый концерт для скрипки с оркестром (1944; Сталинская премия, 1946). Автор фортепианных миниатюр и других сочинений, включая сочинения педагогического репертуара для музыкальных школ и музыкальных училищ (для фортепиано, струнных, духовых, народных инструментов, ансамблей, учебного оркестра).
В Московской консерватории преподавал инструментовку с 1932 года. Среди учеников: композиторы Е. Ботяров, Ю. Воронцов, Э. Денисов, В. Задерацкий, Р. Леденёв, В. Мурадели, Н. Пейко, К. Хачатурян, Б. Чайковский, А. Эшпай, М. Богданов; музыковеды В. Васина–Гроссман, В. Конен, И. Мартынов, Н. Туманина, симфонические дирижёры А. Жюрайтис, А. Лазарев, Г. Рождественский. «Николай Петрович проработал в Московской консерватории 58 лет. Будучи руководителем класса инструментовки, он создал свою школу, выработал свой подход, свой круг методических принципов и воззрений, в основе которых опора на русские классические музыкальные традиции, в том числе, идущие от С. Н. Василенко и других представителей московской школы музыкальной педагогики в области инструментовки… Обобщением педагогического опыта Н. П. Ракова стали его прекрасные методические труды, изданные и получившие практическое распространение и признание — “Сборник задач по инструментовке для симфонического оркестра”, “Практический курс инструментовки”» (Задерацкий В., Симакова Н. Памяти Н. П. Ракова // Советский музыкант. 1991. 20 июня).
Сочинения: для оркестра — 3 симфонии (1940; «Молодёжная», 1957; для струнного оркестра — «Маленькая симфония», 1962), Симфониетта для струнного оркестра (1958); сюиты: Марийская (1931), Танцевальная (1934), Концертная (1949), Балетная (1950), «Лирические напевы» (1951); «Русская увертюра» (1947); концерты с оркестром — 2 для фортепиано и струн,ного оркестра (1960), Концертная фантазия для кларнета с оркестром (1968), для фортепиано — 2 сонаты (1959, 1973), 15 сонатин (1950–76), 10 пьес на народные темы (1969), 20 концертных этюдов (1929–74), «Новелетты» (1937), «Акварели» (1946), «Триптих» (1970); для скрипки и фортепиано — 2 сонаты (1951,1974), Триптих (1968); сочинения для духового, эстрадного оркестра, оркестра народных инструментов и др.
Умер 3 ноября 1990 года в Москве.
Источник: Раков Н. П. // Московская консерватория от истоков до наших дней. 1866–2006. Биографический энциклопедический словарь. — М. 2007. — С. 445. http://www.mosconsv.ru/ru/person.aspx?id=42717
Kompozitor, pedagog, dirizhor. Rodilsya 1/14 marta 1908 goda v Kaluge. V 1931 godu okonchil Moskovskuyu konservatoriyu po klassu kompozitsii P. M. Gliera. V iyule 1941 goda ushol v Narodnoye opolcheniye, no byl otozvan. S 1949 goda vystupal v kachestve dirizhora s ispolneniyem, v tom chisle, sobstvennykh sochineniy. Dlya tvorchestva Rakova kharakterno obrashcheniye k russkomu narodno–pesennomu melosu, k fol’kloru raznykh narodov SSSR, preobladaniye svetlogo, liricheskogo nastroya. Naiboleye izvesten Pervyy kontsert dlya skripki s orkestrom (1944; Stalinskaya premiya, 1946). Avtor fortepiannykh miniatyur i drugikh sochineniy, vklyuchaya sochineniya pedagogicheskogo repertuara dlya muzykal’nykh shkol i muzykal’nykh uchilishch (dlya fortepiano, strunnykh, dukhovykh, narodnykh instrumentov, ansambley, uchebnogo orkestra). V Moskovskoy konservatorii prepodaval instrumentovku s 1932 goda. Sredi uchenikov: kompozitory Ye. Botyarov, YU. Vorontsov, E. Denisov, V. Zaderatskiy, R. Ledenov, V. Muradeli, N. Peyko, K. Khachaturyan, B. Chaykovskiy, A. Eshpay, M. Bogdanov; muzykovedy V. Vasina–Grossman, V. Konen, I. Martynov, N. Tumanina, simfonicheskiye dirizhory A. Zhyuraytis, A. Lazarev, G. Rozhdestvenskiy. «Nikolay Petrovich prorabotal v Moskovskoy konservatorii 58 let. Buduchi rukovoditelem klassa instrumentovki, on sozdal svoyu shkolu, vyrabotal svoy podkhod, svoy krug metodicheskikh printsipov i vozzreniy, v osnove kotorykh opora na russkiye klassicheskiye muzykal’nyye traditsii, v tom chisle, idushchiye ot S. N. Vasilenko i drugikh predstaviteley moskovskoy shkoly muzykal’noy pedagogiki v oblasti instrumentovki… Obobshcheniyem pedagogicheskogo opyta N. P. Rakova stali yego prekrasnyye metodicheskiye trudy, izdannyye i poluchivshiye prakticheskoye rasprostraneniye i priznaniye — “Sbornik zadach po instrumentovke dlya simfonicheskogo orkestra”, “Prakticheskiy kurs instrumentovki”» (Zaderatskiy V., Simakova N. Pamyati N. P. Rakova // Sovetskiy muzykant. 1991. 20 iyunya). Sochineniya: dlya orkestra — 3 simfonii (1940; «Molodozhnaya», 1957; dlya strunnogo orkestra — «Malen’kaya simfoniya», 1962), Simfoniyetta dlya strunnogo orkestra (1958); syuity: Mariyskaya (1931), Tantseval’naya (1934), Kontsertnaya (1949), Baletnaya (1950), «Liricheskiye napevy» (1951); «Russkaya uvertyura» (1947); kontserty s orkestrom — 2 dlya fortepiano i strun,nogo orkestra (1960), Kontsertnaya fantaziya dlya klarneta s orkestrom (1968), dlya fortepiano — 2 sonaty (1959, 1973), 15 sonatin (1950–76), 10 p’yes na narodnyye temy (1969), 20 kontsertnykh etyudov (1929–74), «Noveletty» (1937), «Akvareli» (1946), «Triptikh» (1970); dlya skripki i fortepiano — 2 sonaty (1951,1974), Triptikh (1968); sochineniya dlya dukhovogo, estradnogo orkestra, orkestra narodnykh instrumentov i dr. Umer 3 noyabrya 1990 goda v Moskve. Istochnik: Rakov N. P. // Moskovskaya konservatoriya ot istokov do nashikh dney. 1866–2006. Biograficheskiy entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’. — M. 2007. — S. 445.
Nikolai Petrovich Rakov (Николай Петрович Раков, Nikolaj Petrovič Rakov); 14 March [O.S. 1 March] 1908, – 3 November 1990), was a Soviet violinist, composer, conductor, and academic at the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied. He composed mostly instrumental works, for orchestra, chamber music and piano music, especially pedagogic works. In 1946, he received the Stalin Prize for his first violin concerto, which became known internationally.
Life
Born in Kaluga, Rakov first studied violin at the Rubinstein Music School in his hometown, and later composition at the Moscow Conservatory with Reinhold Glière and Sergei Vasilenko. After graduating in 1931, he served as Glière’s assistant at the Conservatory in the following year, before becoming a lecturer himself in 1935 and professor of orchestration in 1943. Rakov’s pupils included Edison Denisov, Boris Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Peiko, Andrei Eshpai, and Alfred Schnittke. In addition, he also gave concerts, as a violinist and as a conductor, and wrote several books on problems in orchestration. He received the Stalin Prize in 1946 for his Violin Concerto No. 1 in E minor (1944) and was named a People’s Artist of the USSR in 1975. He died in Moscow.
Style
Rakov was a staunchly conservative composer who exercised a solid grasp of orchestration and melody; many of his works ventured only a little beyond the style of Alexander Glazunov and Reinhold Glière, though his expressive range is far greater than the latter. Unabashed tonality, late Romantic harmonies, and flowing tunes were the hallmarks of his work, in which the Russian national idiom always took prominence. In his later works, Rakov began to show some interest in Neoclassicism. Rakov devoted special attention to music for children and wrote numerous piano pieces for pedagogical purposes, as well as instructive chamber music.
His music has been described as “well constructed, thematically appealing”, with “attention to detail. Its expressive range is broad and notable for a vein of romantic lyricism in numerous slow movements. He was also capable of adding an element of lightly etched irony in his shorter works, a quality not typically associated with Soviet composers”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rakov
Vreemde compositie dit eerste violin concert…. 1944… WOll…???
https://alchetron.com/Nikolai-Rakov
Rakov’s beautiful 4th concert etude. I was amazed to find, when posting this, that there were no solo piano works at all by Rakov on youtube. Which is very unfortunate, as his music is beautiful – this work being one of his most beautiful for solo piano. Here’s hoping this post (and some others I hope to make) increase public awareness of an overlooked composer for piano. I’m always astounded at the lack of repertoire awareness by the majority of pianists today. Too many pianists are trapped in the Romantic era repertoire – to the extent where works like this are ignored for many years. Rakov’s style is often dubbed as Late Romantic – however, harmonically, Rakov is very akin to jazz music. In this work (and most other piano works by Rakov) he employs the use of a quartal harmonic system (as opposed to the standard triadic system). This is more akin to jazz than to Romantcism. As with the key employed. The piece is primarily in the key of A lydian dominant (A overtone), which is, once again, a commonly used mode in jazz music. Another example of this key used in a ‘classical’ context is Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse. For a very modern example, all one has to do is listen to the Simpsons theme tune. For me, Rakov is what we would get if we crossed Bill Evans wth Rachmaninoff. A poor wikipedia article has helped to reinforce the generally negative view held by the West with regards to Rakov. Anyway, here’s hoping you enjoy this great piece of music. The score is available directly from Sikorski – www.sikorski.de
Julian Sitkovetsky (1925-1958), the great Russian-Ukrainian violinist. Nikolai Rakov (1908 – 90) Poem for Violin and Piano in E Minor Bella Davidovich, piano Recorded in 1953