Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) Russia

Composer born in St. Petersburg, Ustvolskaya studied at the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1939, she began studying with Shostakovich, the only woman in her class.

She had an important relationship with Shostakovich, who wrote to her that "it's not about who you are under my influence, but who I am under yours."

I'm sharing her Grand Duet for Cello and Piano. You can see the score in the video :)

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Until 1961, none of her works were actually performed, only a few patriotic pieces for official reasons.

The 1960s saw greater tolerance for modern music, and interest in Ustvolskaya began to grow, becoming a cult figure, even though very few people outside of Leningrad and Moscow knew her.

Greater recognition came after the Holland Festival in 1989, where she performed several works. Since then, her music has been increasingly programmed.

Next up is her Trio for clarinet, violin and piano.

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Ustvolskaya developed a very particular style, of which she said there was no connection between what she did and any other composer. It was characterized by the use of repeated homophonous blocks of sound, for which one critic called her "the lady with the hammer," as well as unusual combinations of instruments (8 double basses, piano and percussion for her Composition No. 2), the use of clusters or extremes in dynamics, as in her Piano Sonata No. 6, which I share below:

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Galina's music is not strictly avant-garde, so it was not openly censored by the USSR. However, she was accused of a lack of willingness to communicate, of "narrowness," and obstinacy. Recently, critics of her music have considered these supposed shortcomings to be distinctive qualities of her style. Composer Boris Tishchenko compared the "narrowness" of her style to the concentrated light of a laser capable of piercing metal. Galina's music is based on tension and density, regardless of the length and composition of her works, some of which, composed between 1940 and 1970, sometimes seem as if they were written today.

I'm sharing her Symphony No. 5. None of the works on this blog include the expected IMSLP link to view the score, due to the composer's copyright. However, you can view her music (and purchase it) on her website:

http://ustvolskaya.org/eng/