The Symphony No. 3 (subtitled "Jesus Messiah, Save Us!") by Russian composer
Galina Ustvolskaya
Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya (russian: Гали́на Ива́новна Уство́льская , 17 June 1919 – 22 December 2006), was a Russian composer of classical music.
Early years
Born in Petrograd, Ustvolskaya studied from 1937 to 1 ...
was composed in 1983, and published in 1990.
The premiere was given by the
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 ...
in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
conducted by
Vladimir Altschuler with Oleg Popkov as reciter on 1 October 1987.
It is scored for: groups of five
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
A ...
s,
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s and
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 ...
es; a
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
; three
tubas; two
bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
s and
tenor drum;
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 ...
; and a solo voice (reciter), which appeals in speech in Russian for salvation.
The work lasts approximately 13-15 minutes.
The symphony is based on the texts of the 11th-century German monk and musician
Hermanus Contractus: the reciter repeating the invocation "Almighty, True God, Father of Eternal Life, Creator of the World, save us".
Ustvolskaya noted that there is an error in the published score - an incorrect piano
glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...
in
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
88 - which persisted despite her request for it to be corrected.
Recordings
Megadisc Classics -
Oleg Malov
Oleg Malov is a Russian pianist. A professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, he has centered on Russian contemporary music throughout his career. He is best known for his extensive work on Galina Ustvolskaya
Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya ( ...
(reciter),
Ural Philharmonic Orchestra,
Dmitry Liss (conductor)
References
{{Authority control
Compositions by Galina Ustvolskaya
1983 compositions
Ustvolskaya 3