Kuzmin studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory with Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, but was forced to abandon his studies due to illness.
Compositional Technique
In his 'Sacred Songs', Kuzmin followed the model of the Russian folk-song 'protyazhnaya', where the vocal line is presented almost without a break and the metre is free.
Composition History
Kuzmin's music for the German anti-war play 'Der deutsche Hinkemann' by Ernst Toller, a left-wing playwright, was used for the first 10 performances of the play in Russia.
Composer Biography
Mikhail Alexeevich Kuzmin, a great Russian poet of the twentieth century, was also a composer whose achievements were largely obscured during the Soviet era.
Recording & Production
This recording features world première recordings of Mikhail Kuzmin's music for 'The Society of Honoured Bell Ringers', 'Masquerade', 'Sacred Songs', and 'Hinkemann the German'.
Composition History
Kuzmin's incidental music for the play 'The Society of Honoured Bell Ringers' by Evgeny Zamyatin, a contemporary of Mikhail Bulgakov, was first staged in October 1925.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Kuzmin was considered a master of the miniature in both music and literature, with his vocal miniatures being particularly skilled.
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