Mikael Tariverdiev

Biography

Mikael Leonovich Tariverdiev (also Mikayel Levoni Tariverdian; 15 August 1931 – 25 July 1996) was a Soviet composer of Armenian descent. He headed the Composers' Guild of the Soviet Cinematographers' Union from its inception and is most famous for his movie scores, primarily the score to Seventeen Moments of Spring.

Biography

Mikael Tariverdiev was born in Tbilisi, Soviet Union to Armenian parents, but lived and worked in Russia. His father, Levon Tariverdiev, was from Baku but a native of Nagorno-Karabakh. His mother, Satenik, was Georgian Armenian. He studied at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan for two years and then graduated from the Moscow Gnessin Institute in the class of Aram Khachaturian in 1957.
Tariverdiev wrote over 100 romances and four operas, including the comic opera Count Cagliostro and the mono-opera "The Waiting". However, he is mostly known for his scores to many popular Soviet movies (more than 130 in total), including "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and "The Irony of Fate"—see List of film music by Mikael Tariverdiev.
He received many awards, including the USSR State Prize in 1977 and the Prize of the American Music Academy in 1975. In 1986 he was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia. In 1990, he won three Nika Awards for Best Composer.
The Best Music prize at the largest Russian National Film Festival Kinotaur is named after Tariverdiev.
On 31 May 1990 Tariverdiev underwent cardiac surgery in the London Royal Hospital; his aortic valve was replaced with an artificial one. Upon his death in 1996, a group of admirers of his music founded the Mikael Tariverdiev Charity Fund and organized the Tariverdiev International Organ Competition.
In November 2015, the first major release of Tariverdiev's work in the West was published in London by Antique Beat and the UK label Earth Recordings, as a set of three albums titled 'Film Music×Film Music13 November 2015 · Album · Compilation,SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 51 tracks1Boys and the Sea - part one1:352Boys and the Sea - part two2:043The Man Follows The Sun: Dance at the Stadium2:594Waltz (From ’The Long Day’)3:295My Younger Brother1:436The Last Romantic5:427Evening Café1:398Summer Blues2:299All This Jazz4:3010A La Invenzia2:4511Don’t Be Sad2:4712Waltz (From ’The Last Thief’)3:1113Unfinished Recording2:3914Russian Ragtime2:2615Dolphins2:5316You Have Such Eyes4:1317Goodbye Boys!2:2018On Tsvetochnaya Street3:0419A Moment2:0520Prelude for Ket3:2821Roads3:0022Couple in a Café4:1923Expectation of the New Year1:1324Snow over Leningrad2:4525No One’s Home2:1826Along My Street for Many Years2:4827What Is Happening to Me?2:2628I Like1:3429Aria for a Moscow Guest1:5330I Asked the Ash Tree3:3631I Asked the Mirror1:3632The Third Stroitelnaya Street1:5333Melody3:1634The Last Waltz1:4435I Love2:5636Morning Clouds0:5337Moscow Morning2:0438Moscow Morning (Variation)2:4939Morning in the Mountains4:0740Prelude for Cello and Piano2:2141Nocturne2:2642I Am Writing to You by Accident2:3343On the Scout2:1444Over the Fields the Twilight Is Indistinct1:5845Your Voice2:5946Accordion Waltz2:5247It Happens2:5248Until Tomorrow2:4349Don’t Be Sad (Variation)2:5050I Am a Tree3:1551Goodbye Boys! (Variation)2:09'. The release was curated by Vera Tariverdieva, the composer's widow, and Stephen Coates of the UK band The Real Tuesday Weld, who had heard Tariverdiev's music in Moscow in 2011.

List of compositions

Symphonic works

1956 Concerto for voice with orchestra
The orchestra: 3,2,3(B.I-bass-cl); 4,3,3,1; kettledrums, triangle, side drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, piano, harp, voice, strings.
1982 Concerto No. 1 for violin with orchestra in three movements
The first version for full symphonic orchestra:
The orchestra: 2,2,2,(B); 0; 2(C), 2(C),2,0; kettledrums, cymbals, triangle, side drum, tam-tam, tambourine, vibraphone, (xylophone), harpsichord, harp, violin-solo, strings

The second version - for chamber orchestra:
The orchestra: 1,0,0,0; 0,0,0,0; kettledrums, vibraphone, (xylophone), harpsichord, violin-solo, strings.

1992 Concerto No. 2 for violin-solo with orchestra (in one part)
The orchestra: 1,1,1,0; triangle, strings (10-12; 8-10; 6–8; 4–6; 2).
1993 Concerto in Romantic Style (Концерт в романтическом стиле) for viola and string orchestra (in one movement), Op. 102
The orchestra: viola-solo, strings: (8; 6; 6; 6; 2).
The works for organ

1985 Concerto No. 1 for organ "Cassandra" in four parts
1988 Symphony for reciter "Chernobyl" in two parts: 1. "Zone", 2. "Quo vadis"
1988 Concerto No. 2 for organ. Polyphonic notebook in four parts.
1989 Concerto No. 3 for organ in four parts: 1."Reflections", 2."Moving", 3."Choral", 4."Walking in C-Major".
1995 Ten chorales for organ ("Imitation of Old Masters"). Dedicated to the Spanish Infanta Helen
Chamber-instrumental works

1953 Nine little novels for piano
1953 "Fleetingnesses" for piano
1953 Sonata for French horn and piano
1954 Trio No. 1 for piano, violin and cello
1955 Trio No. 2 for piano, violin and cello
1986 "Moods" – 24 pieces for piano
Chamber-vocal works

1955 Three romances to the verses by A. Isaakjan
1. "A Plucked Rose has no Way Home"
2. "Grave"
3. "I Always Remember..."
1956 Three sonnets by Shakespeare
1. "Mossy Marble of Stone Graves"
2. "Oh, How Shall I Praise You"
3. "Jaded by Toils"
1956 Three songs to the verses by V. Orlov
1. Familiar song
2. Golden Twilight
3. A song over the telephone
1957 "Water-colours" – vocal cycle to the verses by medieval Japanese poets
1. Struck the road
2. The way to the capital
3. Before the execution
4. In the morning mist
5. Dream
1958 Vocal cycle to the verses by V. Mayakovsky
1. Could you..?
2. Something about Petersburg
3. Tricks of cloud
4. Listen!
5. Instead of a letter
1959 Three songs to the verses by S. Davydova
1. A song about pigeons
2. A road song
3. A song about spring
1960 "Garden Ring" to the verses by S. Grebennikov and H. Dobronravov
1960 "Your Eyes Look Like New Car Headlights" to the verses by S. Kirsanov
1960 Three romances to the verses by S. Kirsanov
1. Your pictures
2. Round a white clothed table
3. Come!
1961 It so happens to the verses by B. Gaikovich
1962 Vocal cycle to the verses by L. Martynov
1. Night was falling
2. Water
3. Leaves
1963 Two songs to the verses by N. Dobronravov
1. Don't be sad
2. In the evenings
1963 Vocal cycle to the verses by Bella Akhmadulina
1. An old romance
2. I thought you were a doctor for me
3. Fifteen boys
1964 Vocal cycle to the verses by Evgeny Vinokurov
1. I was seizing sentiments
2. Windows
3. Your face is fading from my memory
1964 "Skirls" – vocal cycle to the verses by M. Malishevsky
1. Sparrow – experimenter
2. Monkey and mirror
3. Self-respect
4. Critics and bubbles
5. Conversation
6. In a rook-like way
7. Nightingale and art counsel
1965 "Music" to the verses by V. Orlov
1966 "You are going away like a train" to the verses by E. Evtushenko
1967 Seven song-recitatives to the verses by G. Pozhenjan
1. I am such a tree
2. Dolphins
3. It's birds' manner to fly away
4. Pine-trees
5. I would like ...
6. I took a decision
7. Soon you will be grown up
1967 "Farewell to Arms" - vocal cycle to the verses by E. Hemingway
1. Footfall
2. Way?
3. Along wet earth
4. Killed
5. Did it ever happen to you?
6. How night differs from day?
7. Praise to Christmas
8. We are spending what is not destined for it
9. Love and compassion
10. I rushed to you
11. We carry love within us
12. Ever alive
1968 "Little Prince" to the verses by N. Dobronravov
1969 Six vocal novels to the verses by L. Ashkenazi
1. Radio
2. Women
3. Cigarettes
4. I told her exactly this
5. Light steam
6. A song about new generation
1970 Songs to the verses by A. Voznesensky
1. I want silence
2. Grove
3. Shall I stare at the train?
4. Memory ("They Killed Poem")
5. I am heading from the carriage platform
1971 Two romances to the verses by M. Tsvetaeva
1. My darling, what have I done to you?
2. Attempt at jealousy
1971 "I am Writing to You" to the verses by M. Lermontov
1972 Two songs to the verses by R. Rozhdestvensky
1. Instants
2. A song about remote Motherland
1974 Six songs to the verses by Soviet poets
1. I like it (M. Tsvetaeva)
2. No one will be at home (B. Posternak)
3. At the mirror (M. Tsvetaeva)
4. That's what happened to me (E. Evtushenko)
5. I asked an ash-tree (V. Kirchov)
6. Along my street (Bella Akhmadulina B. Akhmadulina)
1974 Vocal cycle to the verses by L. Martynov
1. Night was falling
2. Water
3. Leaves
1974 Vocal cycle to the verses by A. Voznesensky
1. I want silence
2. Grove
Shall I stare at the train?

1974 Vocal cycle to the verses by M. Tsvetaeva
1975 Memory to the verses by D. Samoilov
1975 Don't disappear to the verses by A. Voznesensky
1975 Vocal cycle to the verses by S. Kirsanov
1. Your eyes
2. Your pictures
3. At the white clothed table
4. Come
1976 We are, comrade, with you – cycle of songs to the verses by M. Svetlov
1. Red Guards from remote times
2. Old Komsomol members song
3. I was not a friend of hers
4. Moscow Military district
5. In the reconnaissance
6. Infantry passing the bogs
7. We are, comrade, with you
8. Grenada
1977 "Echo" ("Don't return to ex-beloved") to the verses by A. Voznesensky
1977 A song about circus to the verses by B. Akhmadulina
1977 Old Komsomol members' songs to the verses by M. Svetlov
1. Red Guards from remote times
2. Old Komsomol members' song
3. I was not a friend of hers
4. Moscow Military district
5. In the reconnaissance
6. Infantry passing the bogs
7. We are, comrade, with you
8. Grenada
1979 "Remember this World". Vocal cycle to the verses by A. Voznesensky
1. Twilights are frequent over the ploughed field
2. Nostalgia for the present
3. Thanks for not dying yesterday
4. Remember this world
1980 Eight sonnets by Shakespeare
1. I love
2. Sonnet about a hen
3. I am guilty
4. Alas! My verse is not sparkling new
5. Sonnet about an apple
6. Love is blind and blinds us too
7. To prevent two hearts' union
8. Ardent heard at the dawn ...
1986 Five songs to the verses by M. Tsvetaeva
1. Where has such tenderness come from?
2. And again the window
3. Island girl
4. I don't need you anymore
5. Should I forget it?
Music for theatre performance

1963 "Purpose" (Sovremennik)
1966 "Farewell to Arms" (Lenin's Komsomol theatre)
1966 "The Hero of our Time" (Theatre on the Taganka)
1968 "Farewell" (Mossoviet theatre)
1968 "Climbing the Fudzijama" (Sovremennik)