Artyomov: The Way to Olympus

Featuring

Timur Mynbaev
Dmitri Kitajenko
Evgeny Smirnov
Tatiana Grindenko
Yelena Adjemova
Anton Batagov

Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Pyotr Meshchaninov
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov

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Compositional Technique

Gurian Hymn uses an authentic West Georgian Easter song, "Christ has arisen" ('Agdgamasa Shensa'), as a cantus firmus in the deepest registers, forming the piece's foundation.

Composer Biography

Artyomov, along with composers Sofia Gubaidulina and Viktor Suslin, formed the improvisation group "Astreya" in 1975, which improvised on non-orchestral and exotic instruments.

Historical Context

Artyomov was blacklisted as one of the 'Khrennikov's Seven' at the Sixth Congress of the Union of Composers for participating in Western festivals, which deprived him of performances and earnings.

Composer Biography

Vyacheslav Artyomov's music was created under circumstances of official defamation and exclusion from livelihood in a totalitarian country, making its creation an extraordinary feat.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Artyomov considers music a science, alongside astrophysics, believing it exposes the profundity of the human spirit and its connection to the World's Soul (Anima Mundi).

Critical Reception

Nine years after blacklisting Artyomov, Tikhon Khrennikov, head of the Union of Composers, praised Artyomov's Requiem, stating it surpassed Requiems by Mozart and Verdi.

Composition History

The Symphony: The Way to Olympus, conceived in 1978, is the first of four symphonies in the cycle "Symphony of the Way," on which Artyomov worked for over 30 years.