JAVS Spring 2022

treatment Bunin has suffered from: he never joined the Communist Party, and he was strongly associated with Shostakovich. In addition, I assume that Bunin’s Jewish background heavily damaged his reputation, as many “5 th Paragraphers” were discriminated by the Soviet leaders. 15 Sadly, like many other Soviet composers, most forgot about Bunin after his death, mostly due to his struggle with the Soviet cultural authorities. His music was recorded, performed, and published only upon completion, and never again during the Soviet Era. This domestic status prohibited him from receiving better international exposure, and therefore, his name was erased from the public awareness. In different memoires, he is always warmly remembered by his friends and colleagues as a knowledgeable, intelligent, kind, and inspiring man. 16 Yet, it is of a great mystery to me how Bunin is so anonymous today, both in Russia and in the West, considering his life and career among the most exclusive circle of Soviet composers fitting perfectly in that caliber. In July 1976, on the next day after Bunin died, the Soviet composer and Bunin’s close friend Margarita Kuss (1921 2009) published a short obituary for the newsletters: This morning has been very sad for Soviet music: Composer Revol Samuilovich Bunin died. He was 52 years old, in the peak of his artistic blossom. His Creativeness was driven by a high dedication to art. RSB was noble, spiritual, and very honest man. Knowledgeable in all fields of art, musicology, literature, history and philosophy: he was always surrounded by many musicians from different ages. In concert halls, when his music was performed, from the very first bars, there was a contact with the listeners, of the kind that each composer is dreaming about, but very often can’t reach. This contact was possible, thanks to the honesty and sincerity that are so necessary in art, as well as in life, and indeed, in every piece he wrote, it’s easy to find many pages of inspiring lyricism, and deep thoughts. All these characteristics are tightly connected to Bunin’s personality: his high intelligence and the strong sense of ethics. The memory of this incredible artist and person will always stay in our hearts. 17

Photo of Revol Bunin with Kuss and Chugayev.

Looking Ahead Bunin’s language is strongly drawn from the late 19th century heritage of the Russian Romantics. That can be heard in well-established tonal functions (as opposed to the tonal ambiguity of the late 1880’s Peterburgian school), singable and symmetrical melodic lines, usually quite large, patriotic uplifting energy, and sentimentality at times. This issue of the AVS journal includes a review of a new recording of Bunin’s Sonata for Viola and Piano (1955), performed by Basil Vendryes on viola and William David on piano. The Sonata was published shortly after the concerto, dedicated to Shostakovich, and performed by Barshai as well. To celebrate the new recording, which hopefully will encourage more violists to explore Bunin’s music, I shall address the inevitable comparison of these two works in Part II.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022

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