German Galynin

German Germanovich Galynin ( _ru. Герман Германович Галынин, "Gherman Ghermanovič Ghalynin") (March 30, 1922, Tula, Russia – June 18, 1966, Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet (Russian) composer, student and developer of Shostakovich and Myaskovsky line in Soviet classic music.

Bereft of parents and being raised in an orphanage, he taught himself playing several folk instruments and piano. In 1941, after the Great Patriotic War begins, and already a student of Moscow Conservatory, he goes to army as a volunteer, directing there various grass-root performances, writing songs and music to dramas. In 1945-1950 he renews his studies at Moscow Conservatory under Dmitri Shostakovich and Nikolai Myaskovsky in composition and Igor Sposobin in theory of music. Being seriously ill since 1951, he still actively writes music. Galynin’s work is a bright phenomenon in Soviet classic music, unfortunately, still underestimated in his home country and largely overlooked in the West. Within the well-developed system of public Children Music Schools in Russia and former Soviet republics Galynin is virtually most gratefully remembered due to his short and easy pieces of music composed for beginners, some of them being variations of popular folk melodies. “The composer’s bright and original talent was a union of melodic generosity, picturesque harmonies, sense of modern colouring, and elegance of classical form”, writes about him Encyclopedia of Music (Moscow, 1973). Winner of the The State Stalin Prize (1951, for his "Epic Poem").

elected Works

*1939-41 Sonata Triad for piano (revised 1963)
*1939 "Spanish Fantasy" for piano
*1945 Suite for piano
*1946 First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
*1947 String Quartet
*1949 Piano Trio
*1949 Suite for String Orchestra
*1950 "Epic Poem" (Russian: "Эпическая поэма" for Symphonic Orchestra (The State Stalin Prize), 1951)
*1950 "Girl and Death", ("Девушка и смерть", Oratorium (inspired by Maxim Gorky’s poem)
*1951 "Youth Festive Ouverture" ("Молодёжная праздничная увертюра") for Symphonic Orchestra
*1959 "Aria" for Violin and String Orchestra
*1965 Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

Bibliography

*ru icon Мнацаканова Е. Герман Галынин. – Москва, 1965.
*ru icon И.П.Кулясов. Галынин, Герман Германович // Музыкальная энциклопедия. – Т.1. – Москва: Сов. Энциклопедия, 1973. – С.891.

Recording * GALYNIN. CONCERTO [No. 1] FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA; KHACHATURIAN RHAPSODY CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA. Dmitri Bashkirov (piano), Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor; Natalia Shakhovskaya, Cello, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Aram Khachaturian, conductor. Orion LP, PGM 6902. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70-750038 (Khachaturian) and 74-750039 (Galynin).

External links

* [http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/galynin.htm List of Galynin's works at van Rijen's site]