Vladimir Martynov

Vladimir Martynov studied piano as a child. Gaining an interest in composition, he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory where he studied piano under Mikhail Mezhlumov and composition under Nikolai Sidelnikov, graduating in 1971.[1]

Vladimir Martynov is also known as a serious ethnomusicologist, specializing in the music of the Caucasian peoples, Tajikistan, and other ethnic groups in Russia. He also studied medieval Russian and European music, as well as religious musical history and musicology. While even in Soviet times this field of study was considered generally acceptable, it also allowed him to study theology, religious philosophy and history. Vladimir Martynov began studying early Russian religious chant in the late 1970s; he also studied the music of such composers as Machaut, Gabrieli, Isaac, Dufay, and Dunstable, publishing editions of their music. He became interested in the brand of minimalism developing in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s: a static, spiritually-inspired style without the shimmering pulse of American minimalism.[2] The timeless quality of chants and the lack of a sense of bar lines in Renaissance polyphony entered into his version of minimalism.[3]

At about this time, he began teaching at the Academy of Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in Sergiyev Posad.[4]

He has recordings on Le Chant du Monde's imprint "Les Saisons Russes" and on the Moscow-based independent label LongArms Records. In 2009 London Philharmonic gave the world premiere of his opera Vita Nuova.[5][6] The opera premiered in the U.S. at the new Alice Tully Hall on February 28, 2009. Martynov's composition "The Beatitudes", as performed by Kronos Quartet, was featured in La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Vladimir Martynov has authored several books and seminal articles on musical theory, history and philosophy of music.[7][8]

• String Quartet (1966)
• Concerto for Oboe and Flute (1968)
• Hexagramme for Piano (1971)
• Violin Sonata (1973)
• Seraphic Visions From St. Francis of Assisi (Rock Opera) (1978)
• Come In! for 2 Violins and Orchestra (1988)
• Twelve Victories of King Arthur for 7 Pianos (1990)
• Apocalypse (1991)[9]
• Lamentations of Jeremiah (1992)
• Magnificat (1993)
• Opus Posthumum (1993)
• Stabat Mater (1994)
• The Beatitudes (1998)[10]
• Requiem (1998)
• Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia (symphony) (2005)
• Vita Nuova (Opera) (c. 2009)
• Opus Prenatum (2014)

• Music of Vladimir Martynov Kronos Quartet
• Lamentations (Плач пророка Иеремии) Andrei Kotov, Sirin Choir
• Night in Galicia - on the poem by Velimir Khlebnikov. Tatiana Grindenko, Ensemble Opus Posth
• Stabat Mater. Requiem. Tatiana Grindenko, Ensemble Opus Posth
• Passionslieder. Tatiana Grindenko, Ensemble Opus Posth
• Litania. Tatiana Grindenko, Ensemble Opus Posth
• come in! Tatiana Grindenko, Ensemble Opus Posth

• German Music Label Troubadisc with SACD release, biography + forum