The following is a guest post from Dr Elena Artamonova, Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Slavonic Studies and Member of the Lancashire Research Centre for Migration, Diaspora, and Exile (MIDEX), University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom.
September 28 marked the 100th Birthday Anniversary of violist, composer-orchestrator and conductor, Rudolf Barshai, whose papers arrived at the Music Division the same month.
The name Rudolf Borisovich Barshai (1924-2010) is recognized around the globe. One of the legendary musicians of the second half of the twentieth century, his tireless and far-reaching commitment and enduring dedication to music are striking even today. He actively collaborated with Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergey Prokofiev, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Isaac Stern, Steven Isserlis CBE, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Peter Donohoe CBE, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Julia Varady, Dame Janet Baker, Sir Thomas Allen and many more. The Moscow Chamber Orchestra (MCO) under the direction of Barshai, its founder and permanent artistic director and conductor throughout 1955-1976, won international recognition for its exceptional level of performance and expressiveness of musical reading of works of different eras and styles.
The recipient of international awards, including the Gramophone Award and Cannes Classical Music Award, Barshai’s numerous recordings with leading orchestras starting from the early 1950s on the Melodiya, EMI, ICA, Decca, and Deutsche Grammophon labels won critical acclaim. Barshai’s unique instrumentations for viola, for string quartet, his chamber symphonies, and his completion of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 10 and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Art of Fugue” (BWV 1080), are endless sources of inspiration for new generations. The name of Rudolf Barshai is inseparable from the achievements of Russian musical culture and of the world musical heritage.
A significant part of the currently unprocessed Rudolf Barshai Papers consists of scores and orchestral parts enriched with his personal annotations. This material offers tremendous value to future generations of musicians. It reveals the maestro’s dedication and thorough work in bringing the original intention of the composer to the fore and in achieving the ideal orchestral sound.
Now that this remarkable heritage is available for study, it preserves great importance for the musical community. It will undoubtedly inspire deeper research and understanding and enhance the quality of musicianship.