Articles

The idea of an anthology emerged vaguely at the beginning of my pedagogical work at the Gnessin State Music Institute GMPI (now RAM). Y.N. Shishakov, head of the folk instruments department, invited me, a fifth-year student, to the department in 1971 and gave me students from Y. Akimow's class, who temporarily served for two years as vice rector of the [...]

We are losing a generation of talented musicians  About live performances and not only FEEDBACK Friedrich Lips, Russian People’s  Artist, Professor Head of the Department of Bayan and Accordion of the Gnessin Music Academy Letters to our newspaper usually refer to the really important problems of the present cultural situation - from the preservation of the legacy to the integration [...]

Sofia Gubaidulina - "Under the Sign of Scorpio" Variations on Six Hexachords for Bayan and Large Orchestra There are instruments that allow a transition to be made from one sonic/spatial dimension into another without changing finger positions on the string or keyboard. All such instruments hold a particular fascination for me. A natural harmonic of a third, for example, is [...]

Friedrich Lips THE ACCORDION MUSIC OF ALEXANDER SHURBIN (b.1945) Recollections on the Composer's 60th Birthday Alexander Shurbin began writing for the bayan when he was a student at the Gnessin Institute in the composition class of N I Peiko. At the Institute he developed a creative partnership with the bayanist G Chernichka, who premiered his first works. In practice however, his [...]

A Tribute to Alexander Cholminov (b.1925) On His 80th Birthday by Friedrich Lips It was an amazing fact: although Alexander Nikolayevich Cholminov was widely regarded as one of the most brilliant and admired composers in the world of the bayan, he had virtually only written one work for the instrument — the famous Suite for Bayan. This suite, produced in 1951, is firmly established in [...]

Friedrich LIPS SERGEI BERINSKY (1946‑1998) In 1990 I received a telephone call: - "Hello! This is the composer Sergei Berinsky speaking. We don't know each other. I have just returned from Astrakhan, where one of the composers there has asked me to deliver his work for bayan. As is well known, as a result of my guest appearances in concert tours composers often [...]

Friedrich Lips MOGENS ELLEGAARD (1935-1995) My memory flicks through sides of biographies, which are dedicated to the contact with human beings dear to me  - composers, performers, and somehow I am surprised by the fact that some of them emerge in my memory particularly often. These memories warm the soul, I would like to express some special thanks, but, unfortunately, it [...]

FRIEDRICH LIPS ALFRED SCHNITTKE (1934 - 1998) (it seems like yesterday, Part 5) Alfred Schnittke, genius of the 20th century, did not write a single work for the Bayan, but some creative contacts with him, which unfortunately did not bear fruit, remained anchored in my memory. No result, as scholars say, is also a result. In this case, the contacts [...]

FRIEDRICH LIPS Vladislav Solotaryov (1942 - 1975) (it seems like yesterday, Part 4) The poet has no career, the poet has a destiny ... A BLOK Vladislav Solotaryov, entered the world of the art of the Bayan, unafraid and courageously resolute; his name immediately became a symbol for everything new, original and modern. Already after the first works of the [...]

FRIEDRICH LIPS The Story of a Work (It seems like yesterday, Part 3)   Edison Vasilyevich Denisov, one of the most important Russian composers of the second half of the 20th century, has for many years held a course for instrumentation and score reading at the Moscow Conservatory, in fact, as the secondary function of a senior teacher. As a [...]