Dmitri Smirnov

Biography

Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (Russian: Дми́трий Никола́евич Смирно́в; 2 November 1948 – 9 April 2020) was a Russian-British composer and academic teacher, who also published as Dmitri N. Smirnov and D. Smirnov-Sadovsky. He wrote operas, symphonies, string quartets and other chamber music, and vocal music from song to oratorio. Many of his works were inspired by the art of William Blake.

Career

Smirnov was born in Minsk into a family of opera singers: his parents were Nikolay Senkin-Sadovsky and Eugenia Smirnova. His family moved to Ulan-Ude and then Bishkek, where he spent most of his childhood. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1967 to 1972, composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov, instrumentation with Yuri Kholopov, and analysis with Edison Denisov. He also studied privately with Philip Herschkowitz, a pupil of Anton Webern.
He worked as an editor for the music publishing house Sovietski Kompositor from 1973 to 1980, and then turned to freelance composing. He received first prize for his composition Solo for Harp at a competition of the International Harp Week in Maastricht in 1976, which won him international recognition. In 1979, Smirnov was blacklisted as one of "Khrennikov's Seven" at the Sixth Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers for unapproved participation in some festivals of Soviet music in the West. Smirnov was one of the founders of Russia's new ACM - Association for Contemporary Music, established in Moscow in 1990. From 1991, he lived in England. He was composer in residence at the University of Cambridge's St John's College and at Dartington, and visiting professor at Keele University from 1993 to 1998. From 2003 he taught at Goldsmiths College at the University of London.
Many of Smirnov's works reflect his fascination with the poetry and art of William Blake. He composed a song cycle based on Blake's The Season (1979), which grew into his first symphony, subtitled The Seasons. His two operas Tiriel and Thel on text by William Blake were premiered in 1989, the first at the Freiburg Festival in Germany, and the second at the Almeida Theatre in London. His First Symphony was premiered the same year at the Tanglewood Festival and the Southbank Centre in London. His orchestral Mozart-Variations were staged as a ballet in Pforzheim in Germany in 1992. Other premieres include the oratorio A Song of Liberty in Leeds in 1993, played by the BBC Philharmonic, the Cello Concerto in Manchester in 1996, the cantata Song of Songs in Geneva in 2001, and the Triple Concerto No. 2 for violin, double bass and harp, which was performed at the Barbican Centre on 26 May 2004, combined with Mahler's Second Symphony "Resurrection", with Andrew Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.
His work has been performed by many notable conductors, including: Riccardo Muti, Sir Andrew Davis, Dennis Russell Davies, Peter Eötvös, Oliver Knussen, Vassily Sinaisky, Pavel Kogan, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Gunther Schuller, and Yan Pascal Tortelier. He composed Jacob's Ladder and River of Life for the London Sinfonietta, String Quartets Nos. 3 and 6 for the Brodsky Quartet, Song of Songs on a commission from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Between Scylla and Charybdis for the string orchestras Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam and the English String Orchestra.

Personal life

Smirnov was married to the composer Elena Firsova. They moved to the United Kingdom in 1991, living in St Albans near London from 1998. Their children are Philip Firsov (an artist and sculptor) and Alissa Firsova (a composer, pianist and conductor). He died on 9 April 2020 in Watford from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recordings

Fish Ear FECD621. Peter Sheppard, Violin: Winter Journey / Smirnov: partita
Megadisc MDC 7818. an Introduction to Dmitri Smirnov. Elegy, String of Destiny, Es ist…, Piano Trio 1, Cello sonata, Postlude
Metier MSV CD92028. Peter Sheppard, Violin: Etude Philharmpnique / Smirnov: Two Fugues
Mobile Fidelity MFCD 906. Works by Modern Composers of Moscow / Smirnov: Solo for Harp
Olympia OCD 282. Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Vol.2 / Smirnov: Sonata for fl and harp
Conifer 75605 51252-2, reissued on RCA/Catalyst 82876 64283-2. Chilingirian Quartet / Smirnov: Second Quartet
Vanguard Classics 99154. Aurelia Saxophone Quartet: Four generations of Russian composers / Smirnov: Fantasia (also on Challenge Classics CC 72039)
Vanguard Classics 99212. Brodsky Quartet: Beethoven Op18 and six more / Smirnov: Quartet 6 (also reissued on Challenge Classics, CC 72009)
NBE CD 021 Nederland Blazers Ensemble: La ligubre gondola & Legende No. 2 / Liszt/Smirnov
Vista Vera VVCD-00232 by Lev Mikhailov and partners / Smirnov: Mirages for saxophone quartet
Visto: 2121 CD – Proyecto Mockba / Smirnov: Serenade op. 34, para obeo, saxofón alto y violonchelo. Tiriel op. 41b, para saxofón barítono y piano
Meridian CDE 84586: Primrose Piano Quartet / Smirnov Piano Quintet;
Vivat: 109: Russian Émigrés – Alissa Firsova, piano / Smirnov: Sonata No. 6 "Blake Sonata", Op. 157 (2008)