JAVS Summer 2025

closest circle of friends, and was the dedicatee of both the sonata and the concerto by R. Bunin (1924-1976), one of Shostakovich’s favorite students, assistants, and musical successors. 16 As a chamber musician, he performed with the important Soviet figures of the time, and was one of the founders of the Borodin Quartet. In 1955 he founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and turned his attention to conducting, gaining even more national and international fame. His contributions and his connection with the elite milieu of Soviet composers and conductors extended the chamber limits of the viola.

Figure 1. Fyodor Druzhinin (1932-2007).

In 1977, a year prior to his appointment at the Moscow Conservatory, Druzhinin made a historic accomplishment, by organizing the first all-Soviet viola conference, hosted by the Moscow Conservatory viola and harp department. 13 In the words of Natalia Podgayeva,

The conference’s objectives covered a wide range of inquiries: recommendations were made addressing problems of viola tuition in early and middle stages of musical educations, some questions about viola repertoire publication were discussed, as well as viola equipment matters. The conference members accepted the programing project of the upcoming all-Soviet [viola] competition and offered the suggestion to start an archive of the viola artistry in the USSR. Some new and rarely performed works from the viola repertoire were sounded by the performance of students and aspirants [equivalent of doctoral students] from the Moscow Conservatory. 14

Figure 2. Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010).

During the last year of his life, Borisovsky taught the freshman Yuri Bashmet. Upon his death, Bashmet transferred to the Studio of Druzhinin and graduated from his class three years later, already an internationally famous laurate and a rising star. 17 In 1983, he made Soviet history when he gave the first full-length viola recital at the Moscow Conservatory Large Concert Hall. 18 Later, in 1988 he joined the viola faculty and kept developing the viola community following the collapse of the USSR. His achievements led eventually to the opening of a separate viola department at the conservatory, in which he serves as chairman, and employs ten more viola professors, as of 2025. 19

Another important, and much less acknowledged Muscovite figure to mention is Rudolf Barshai (1924 2010). While most sources do mention him briefly, they don’t attribute to him any significant achievements in the viola’s evolutional narrative. Barshai started his studies at the Moscow Conservatory as a violinist, later transferred to viola, and graduated in 1948 from the studio of Borisovsky. In 1949, he received the second prize in the international Budapest Competition and started an impressive national and international soloistic career, hailed by audiences for his fine instrumental and emotional qualities. 15 He was part of Shostakovich’s

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