A Schnittke Reader:

by Alfred Schnittke, Alexander Ivashkin (Editor)

This compilation assembles previously published and unpublished essays by Schnittke and supplements them with an interview with cellist and scholar Alexander Ivashkin. The book is illustrated with musical examples, many of them in Schnittke's own hand. In A Schnittke Reader, the composer speaks of his life, his works, other composers, performers, and a broad range of topics in 20th-century music. The volume is rounded out with reflections by some of Schnittke's contemporaries.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

296 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book compiles several of Russian composer Schnittke's writings on music, plus excerpts from an interview with the editor, and some commentary from other Russian musicians and artists who knew and worked with Schnittke. Schnittke is one of my favorite 20th century composers, so I really enjoyed this, especially his essays on other music. His insights into Stravinsky, polystylism, and the use of timbre were especially interesting. I do wish that the interview had been placed before the section of other people's commentary rather than right at the beginning.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 2002, A SCHNITTKE READER is a collection of writings by or about the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, edited by Alexander Ivashkin and translated into English by John Goodliffe.

The bulk of the material consists of Schnittke's writings on other composers' music. He did early analysis on Stravinsky's serial period, Ligeti's micropolyphony and Berio's polystylism at a time when this repertoire was still very new and little known in the Soviet Union. However, forty years later most of his insights will, I suspect, be common knowledge to fans of modernism. Schnittke also wrote some brief articles in praise of his contemporaries (e.g. Gubaidulina, Lubimov), but these are just little puff pieces and don't reveal much about their art.

I came to this collection hoping to understand Schnittke's music more deeply, but it's disappointing in that regard. There are few comments on Schnittke's own music, and the descriptions of the Concerto No. 1 or the Symphony No. 4 are as brief as CD liner notes. There are a few contributions by Schnittke's fellow musicians, but these are mostly mere recountings of the times they performed his music. An exception, however, is Gidon Kremer's piece which documents his changing relationship to the Schnittke's music.

All in all, I think A SCHNITTKE READER will be of limited appeal to Schnittke fans.

[Namrirru · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schnittke has an intelligence that is so natural and intuitive, it's a pleasure to read his articles and interview.