Petrov A. Collected Works. Vol. XV. The Creation. Gypsy Rhapsody. Novice Violinist in the Orchestra. For violin and piano. Piano score and part

Andrey Petrov (1930–2006) was born in Lenin-grad. In 1954 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatoire, where he studied composition at professor 
O. A. Yevlakhov’s class. Among the titles he was awarded were the laureate of State USSR Prizes (1967, 1976), Russia (1996), Russia President’s Prize (1990), People’s artist of the USSR (1990). The cinematographic prizes were the “Nika” (1992) and “Golden Ram” (1995). Having become the chairman of the Leningrad Composers’ Union in 1964 he headed it till the last days of his life, while in 1992 he started the activity of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society’s president. Andrey Petrov was the Honoured Citizen of St. Petersburg. The planet discovered in 1994 was given his name.
The first work on chronology presented in this volume is Gypsy Rhapsody, inspired by the ballet “Radda and Loiko”, which was written for the performance in the Maly Opera Theater. The ballet is based on the early short novel “Makar Chudra” by Maxim Gorky. It was planned that the ballet would be performed by one of the most talented Leningrad world-known choreographer Leonid Yakobson. However the performance wasn’t staged and its music was used by Petrov in the symphonic poem “Radda and Loiko”. This work was firstly presented in 1954 in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic and became one of the brightest first performances of the young author on the Leningrad concert stage. The musical material from the ballet became the basis of the “Gypsy Rhapsody” for violin and piano, written in 1958. It was undeservingly forgotten for a long time, but in the XXI century become a repertoire again. As it’s used  according to the genre of rhapsody, there are some alternating brightly contrasting episodes of diverse nature, built on the violin improvisations style melodies, which are close to the Roma's folklore of Hungarian and Romanian gypsies. Finally the author created an encore concert piece in the spirit of virtuosic romantic music of the late XIX-early XXth century, based on  the gypsy themes. Note that the gypsy “theme” will appear in the composer’s works once again. Later Petrov will write the popular song “Gypsy Goes” for the film “Cruel Romance”.
The theme from the children’s film about circus “Michel and Mishutka”, directed by Ayan Shakhmalieva (1961), served as a basis for another piece of the composer’s early creative period Novice Violinist In the Orchestra. A small picture about trained bears was a passport to the cinema for Petrov. The composer wrote the piece for the Leningrad Concert Orchestra by order of the remarkable conductor Anatoly Badkhen, and the arrangement for the violin and piano was made by another talented conductor Stanislav Gorkovenko. 
A humorous sketch presented the dance rhythms and the Khrushchev’s Thaw atmosphere of the early 1960s. 

Contents

Editor’s Preface

K. Uchitel. Andrey Petrov’s Violin: Love Story with an Instrument

A. Petrov — V. Nagovitsyn.  THE CREATION.  Suite from the ballet of the same name. Transcription for violin and piano (Music text example)

A. Petrov. GYPSY RHAPSODY. For violin and piano (Music text example)

A. Petrov. NOVICE VIOLINIST IN THE ORCHESTRA. For violin and orchestra. Arrangement for violin and piano by S. Gorkovenko (Music text example)