Rodion Mikhaylovich Azarkhin (russian: Родио́н Миха́йлович Аза́рхин) also spelt Rodion Azarkin and Radion Azarkin, (22 March 1931,

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.USSR 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 nationa ...

– 26 March 2007,

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 ...

, Russia) was a Russian musician. He started playing the

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

in 1945 at a music school next to the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

. Later he was a pupil of

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

Honoured Artist M.M. Kurbatov at the Leningrad Conservatory from which he graduated with honours in 1954. He continued his studies as a postgraduate student at the Moscow Conservatory under cellist

Sviatoslav Knushevitsky Sviatoslav Nikolayevich Knushevitsky (also seen as Knushevitzky; 19 February 1963) was a Soviet-Russian classical cellist. He was particularly noted for his partnership with the violinist David Oistrakh and the pianist Lev Oborin in a renowned p ...

. Azarkhin worked with many musical ensembles, including the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under

Rudolf Barshai Rudolf Borisovich Barshai (russian: Рудольф Борисович Баршай, link=no, September 28, 1924November 2, 2010) was a Soviet and Russian conductor and violist. Life Barshai was born on September 28, 1924, in Stanitsa Labinskay ...

, Leningrad Radio Variety Orchestra,

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (russian: Симфонический оркестр Санкт-Петербургской филармонии, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a Russian orchestra based ...

, Leningrad Academic Maliy Opera Theatre Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Izmir State Symphony Orchestra and as a soloist with the Turkish conductor Ender Sakpinar. He also participated as a soloist in the programme of

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

concert called ''Music in Exile''.Programme of Music in Exile, p. 61.
The Royal Conservatory of Music Azarkhin's repertoire of more than 200 works is unique. It features numerous arrangements of his own and transcriptions of instrumental pieces, as well as rarely performed original compositions for double bass. These include: concertos by Bach,

Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...

Dittersdorf Dittersdorf is a municipality in the district Saale-Orla-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Rus ...

, Dvořák, Haendel, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Tubin; "Variations on a Rococo theme" by Tchaikovsky, Partita No.2 by Bach (with Chaconne); and sonatas by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

("Kreutzer-Sonate"), Boccherini, Brahms,

Franck Franck can refer to: People * Franck (name) Other * Franck (company), Croatian coffee and snacks company * Franck (crater), Lunar crater named after James Franck See also

* Franc (disambiguation) * Franks * Frank (disambiguation) * Fran ...

, Grieg,

Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

, Kabalevsky,

Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

, Schubert, and "Moses" by Paganini, and "Introduction and rondo-capriccio" by Saint-Saëns. Performance of these works, use of new performing techniques, and new timbre colours allowed Azarkhin to extend considerably the conventional idea about the artistic potential of the double bass as a solo instrument.

References

Sources

*Российский гуманитарный энциклопедический словарь
Entry on Rodion Azarkhin
«Гуманитарный издательский центр ВЛАДОС», 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Azarkhin, Rodion Russian classical double-bassists Male double-bassists 2007 deaths 1931 births Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni Musicians from Kharkiv Moscow Conservatory alumni 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century Russian male musicians 20th-century classical musicians