, birth_name = Nikolai Petrovich Rakov , birth_date = , birth_place =

Kaluga Kaluga ( rus, Калу́га, p=kɐˈɫuɡə), a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer Konstantin Tsiol ...

, Kaluzhsky Uyezd,

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, death_date = , death_place =

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, education = , occupation = , organizations =

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

, awards = Nikolai Petrovich Rakov (russian: Никола́й Петро́вич Ра́ков, ''Nikolaj Petrovič Rakov''; , – 3 November 1990), was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

violinist, composer, conductor, and academic at the

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 Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

for his first

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

, which became known internationally.

Life

Born in

, Rakov first studied

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

at the Rubinstein Music School in his hometown, and later

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

at the

with

Reinhold Glière Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (born Reinhold Ernest Glier, which was later converted for standardization purposes; russian: Рейнгольд Морицевич Глиэр; 23 June 1956), was a Russian Imperial and Soviet composer of German and P ...

and

Sergei Vasilenko Sergei Nikiforovich Vasilenko (russian: Серге́й Никифорович Василенко, ''Sergej Nikiforovič Vasilenko''; – 11 March 1956) was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor and music teacher whose compositions showed a str ...

. 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 Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

in 1943. Rakov's pupils included

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called "Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. B ...

Boris Tchaikovsky Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Чайко́вский; 10 September 1925 – 7 February 1996), PAU, was a Soviet and Russian composer, born in Moscow, whose oeuvre includes orchestral works, cha ...

, Nikolai Peiko,

Andrei Eshpai Andrei Yakovlevich Eshpai (russian: Андре́й Я́ковлевич Эшпа́й; 15 May 1925 – 8 November 2015) was an ethnic Mari (Russian and Soviet) composer. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1981. Bio ...

, and

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

. In addition, he also gave concerts, as a violinist and as a conductor, and wrote several books on problems in orchestration. He received the

in 1946 for his

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

No. 1 in E minor (1944) and was named a

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significan ...

in 1975. He died in Moscow.

Style

Rakov was a staunchly conservative composer who exercised a solid grasp of orchestration and

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

; many of his works ventured only a little beyond the style of

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov; ger, Glasunow (, 10 August 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 ...

and Reinhold Glière, though his expressive range is far greater than the latter. Unabashed

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...

, 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 Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

. Rakov devoted special attention to music for children and wrote numerous

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

pieces for pedagogical purposes, as well as instructive

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. 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".

Works

Rakov's compositions are mostly instrumental. He composed music for orchestra, including four

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, a sinfonietta, suites ('' Mari Suite''), a

concert overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

, four

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

s with

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

, two

s and a concertino, and a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

for

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

. His

includes

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed form ...

s, oboe sonatas,

clarinet sonata A clarinet sonata is piece of music in sonata form for clarinet, often with piano accompaniment. The Clarinet Sonatas by Brahms are of special significance in the development of the clarinet repertoire. Several important transcriptions are also p ...

sonatina A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementar ...

s for violin, clarinet and harp (all with piano), pieces for

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and piano, and

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

s for four cellos. He composed

lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er and romances for voice and piano. He composed music for piano solo, sonatas, sonatinas,

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

, preludes concert etudes and many smaller works. His pedagogic works for children include pieces in all keys.

Orchestral

* Symphony No. 1 in D (1940, rev. 1958) * Symphony No. 2 in F "Youth Symphony" (1957) * Symphony No. 3 in C "Little Symphony" for string orchestra (1962) * Symphony No. 4 (1973) * Sinfonietta in G minor for string orchestra (1958) * ''Mari Suite'' (1931) * ''Russian Overture'' (1947) * ''Concert Suite'' (1949) * Four piano concertos with string orchestra (1969, 1969, 1973, 1977) **Concerto № 1 in G Major (one-piece) **Concerto № 2 in C major (one-piece) **Concerto № 3 for 2 pianos in C Major, Op. 26 **Concerto № 4 for 2 pianos * Violin Concerto No. 1 in E minor (1944) * Violin Concerto No. 2 in A minor (1954–63) * Concertino in D minor for violin and string orchestra (1960) * Concert Fantasy in G minor for clarinet and orchestra (1968)

Chamber

* Two violin sonatas (1951, 1974) * Two sonatinas for violin and piano (1959) * Three pieces for violin and piano (1943) * Nine pieces for cello and piano (1959) * Two quartets for four cellos (1984, 1986) * Two oboe sonatas (1951, 1978) * Two clarinet sonatas (1956, 1975) * Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1963) * Three Sonatinas for harp and piano (1965, 1970, 1971) * Lieder and Romances

Piano solo

* Four piano sonatas (No. 1, 1959; No. 2, 1973) * Sonatinas (No. 1 in E minor, 1954; No. 4 in C minor; No. 16 in C, 1980) * Variations in B minor (1949) * Five ''Préludes'' (1936) * ''Watercolors'', nine pieces (1945) * 24 children's pieces in all keys (1961) * 20 ''Concert Études'' (1929–74) * ''The Legend''

Recordings

Several works by Rakov were recorded. The composer conducted his first symphony, and also his Violin Concerto No. 1 with Oleg Kagan as soloist, available on used LP sites. Conductors such as

Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (russian: Генна́дий Никола́евич Рожде́ственский; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor. Biography Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. H ...

and

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, ...

recorded orchestral works, with violin soloists in the first concerto including

David Oistrakh David Fyodorovich Oistrakh (; – 24 October 1974), was a Soviet classical violinist, violist and conductor. Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world and was the dedicatee of numerous violin w ...

and Andrew Hardy.

David Frühwirth David Frühwirth (born 15 June 1974) is an Austrian classical violinist. He has played internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, with a focus on contemporary music which he also recorded. He has given international master classes. Life a ...

and

Milana Chernyavska Milana Chernyavska (born 13 January 1968) is a Ukrainian-German classical pianist born and educated in Ukraine. She has played internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, with a focus on contemporary music which she also recorded. Life and ...

recorded his compositions for violin and piano.

References

External links

Catalog of works (in English)

Nikolai Petrovich Rakov
musicalics.com

Broadcast from 1955 of Rakov's ''Scherzino'' for violin and piano
(British Library) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakov, Nikolai 1908 births 1990 deaths People from Kaluga People from Kaluzhsky Uyezd 20th-century classical composers Russian male classical composers Russian Romantic composers Russian classical violinists Male classical violinists Soviet composers Soviet male composers 20th-century Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians 20th-century classical violinists 19th-century male musicians Moscow Conservatory alumni Stalin Prize winners People's Artists of the USSR People's Artists of the RSFSR