| Composer: People's Artist of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Republic's State Awards Laureate Professor "The music of Agshin Alizadeh wins the hearts of his listeners by its originality, sincerity and simplicity. A simplicity which comes with mastery." Natalia Kuznetsova, musicologist "There are composers whose very first compositions command public attention. It is their skill and sincerity of expression that make us regard them as accomplished masters. Agshin Alizadeh is one of such serious composers" Gara Garayev, composer The style of the Azerbaijanian composer Agshin Alizadeh is marked by a vivid Oriental colouring, profound philosophical content, unrestrained ease, and a superb sense of form. In the opinion of connoisseurs, these features make his music an outstanding artistic phenomenon."In art and in life the most important thing is the beginning," Goethe once said. "You cannot button your camisole if you miss the first buttonhole." Akshin Alizadeh's career had a spectacular start. A piano sonata, his debut as a student, won for him a first diploma at a national competition of young composers in 1962. He was awarded two more first diplomas: at the Transcaucasian Spring Festival and, in 1965, for his First Symphony. Almost all of his major compositions have been accorded major awards. One of the composer's early works, his Chamber (Second) Symphony, has been a staple item in concert programmes for nearly twenty years thanks to its ingenious orchestration, original melodies, and witty neoclassical allusions. Quite conventional in form, this work contains a fluid toccata-like Allegro, an expressive cantilena in the second movement and an ironical burlesque a la Prokofiev in the Finale. Abrupt stylistic shifts, however, undermine the stability of its symmetrical structure, lending unexpected mobility to the whole. Developing on the principle of paradox and surprise,it is a kind of gae, which acts as a spur on the listener's imagination. The Chamber Symphony was an unqualified success. It won the composer a prize of the Azerbaijan YCL, was recorded by Radio Moscow and has been repeatedly performed outside the USSR. His next, Third, Symphony was composed sixteen years later. Those years were devoted to orchestral and choral music, as well as music for the theatre. Such a long interval between the two symphonies is not accidental. High-spirited, lively, and even impulsive in everyday life, Akshin Alizadeh is unhurried, thorough and exacting when working on a major composition. After the first TV performance of the Third Symphony the newspaper Baku wrote: "This is a tragic monologue filled with contradictions and depicting the eternal strife between good and evil. The musical dramaturgy and intona-tional development of this one-movement Symphony reveal a thinking whose sources can be traced back to ancient mugams of Azerbaijan." A comparison of the Second and Third Symphonies shows that the structure and message of the composer's language have markedly changed in the intervening years. The themes have become more restrained and austere. The forrn is treated in a deliberately free manner. The timbre and emotional colouring are deeper and darker. The tragic concept reflects the outlook of a sophisticated artist who bids goodbye to the nonchalance and illusions of youth. Yet one cannot fail to note that both scores have many things in common. As a reviewer puts it, the similarity comes from deep sources of thinking rooted in folklore. The composer derives artistic ideas and images from ancient mugams, songs by folk musicians (ashugs), and folk dances. His symphonies are based on the melos and im-provisational logic of mugams. No wonder that he has called his Fourth Symphony a Mugam Symphony. Folklore also permeates his miniatures, shaping their melodic and rhythmic patterns determining the instrumentation and lending to the music an unmistakable yational colouring. Since time immemorial, the art of miniature has been highly valued in the East. This might well account for the composer's love for orchestral "pictures" and a keen interest in these "pictures" displayed by both conductors and listeners. Speaking about Alizadeh's miniatures, a journalist has said that "they certainly are the composer's cup of tea, " True, it is precisely the combination of his restrained attitude and his typically Oriental, volatile temperament that produces such fine music. It is not accidental that his pieces of programme music such _ as . Pastorale, Ashug, Jangi, Country Suite are often included in concert programmes. The Sovetskaya Muzyka magazine commented: "These sketches are compact and well-integrated. They bear the imprint of a mastery in conveying the national spirit in a subtle, indirect way and of the composer's logical thinking, which testifies to his outstanding talent and impeccable taste." Agshin Alizadeh has many tastes and interests. He is willing to try any artistic innovation, however paradoxical it may be. He never shies away from a new experience. For example, his piece Expressions for 16 stringed instruments is an experiment in the aleatory and sonoristic techniques. His choral cycle Bayatylar is an interesting experiment in Azerbaijan music which is predominantly monodic. The cycle was appraised by all reviewers who called it a milestone in Azerbaijan's musical history. Bayatylar contains ten choruses a cappella based on the texts of bayata, folklore miniatures which have no analogue in European and Oriental poetry. The composer managed to convey the pristine charm of those anonymous masterpieces, creating tunes in the folk manner without resorting to quotations. The cycle makes a lasting impression on the listeners by the picturesque imagery and sheer beauty of the music. In the book Music of the Transcaucasian Republics we can read: "The voices sound like instruments in the cycle. The clear-cut, 'graphic' preludes, the interlacing of parts and the gradual swell of sound create an image of airy phantoms, which all of a sudden appear before you and fade away in the distance." For two decades, Alizadeh has been producing music in a rather limited range of genres. It was only recently that he ventured on a ballet called Babek, currently rehearsed at the Azerbaijan Opera and Ballet Theatre. The plot of the ballet reminds one of the uprising of Spartacus. It is about Babek, a legendary herdsman and warrior, his tragic love and death. The ballet's very expressive music contains fiery men's dances, battle scenes, and deeply touching love duets, all that makes Oriental music strongly appealing to European listeners. It is only natural that the premiere is so eagerly awaited by music and ballet lovers. Agshin Alizadeh was born in 1937. Graduated from the composition class of Jevdet Gajiev at the Baku Conservatoire in 1962. Winner of the Azerbaijan State Prize and a Prize of the Azerbaijan YCL. Victoria Vainer, journalist |
| Filmography:
1. "Flaminqo - çəhrayı quşdur" 2. "Rəqiblər" 3. "Tütək səsi" 4. "Təkcə adadnı özünlə apara bilməzsən" 3. "Sizi həyatımdan çox sevirdim" 4. "Keçən ilin son gecəsi" 5. "Avqust gələndə" 6. "Üzü küləyə" 7. "Sizi dünyalar qədər sevirdim" 8. "Kölgədə 40 dərəcə isti" 9. "Pirverdinin xoruzuz" 10. "Ləqəbi İka" |
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