ABRAM LVOVICH STASEVICH AND HIS TRANSCRIPTION OF DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH'S EIGHTH QUARTET

One of the most prominent Soviet conductors of the mid-20th century, Abram Lvovich Stasevich (1907-1971) has gone down in the history of our culture as a true knight of contemporary Russian music. Perhaps one of the most impelling initial reasons for this was the fact that the artiste himself composed music throughout his entire life and has a long list of his opuses to his name. But conducting was always his main claim to fame. In 1931, he graduated from the conservatory having completed Semyon Kozolupov's violoncello class, and in 1937, he graduated from Leo Ginsburg's conducting class.
All this time, the student gained experience playing in orchestras under outstanding conductors, both Soviet and foreign. In 1936-1937, Stasevich was the assistant of well-known Hungarian conductor Eugen Szenkar, who at that time worked with the orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic. The young conductor also debuted with this orchestra in April 1937. It is worth noting that his debut programme featured three works by contemporaries—Nikolai Myaskovsky's Sixteenth Symphony, Vladimir Enke's Concerto for Orchestra, and fragments of Ivan Dzerzhinsky's "Quiet Flows the Don". After that, the conductor put all his heart and soul into promulgating Soviet music.
Throughout his professional life, Stasevich had occasion to perform with many different orchestras. In particular, he worked with the orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic in Novosibirsk (1942-1944) and with the Big Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio (1944-1952), and then travelled all over the Soviet Union. Contemporary music occupied a significant place in all of his diverse and substantial programs. It was in Stasevich's execution that many audiences in different cities came to know the works of Nikolai Myaskovsky, Aram Khachaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Nikolai Peiko, Mikhail Chulaki, and Lev Knipper, as well as those of masters of various Soviet republics—Kara Karaev, Fikret Amirov, Sultan Gajibekov, Artur Kapp, Andrei Shtogarenko, Revaz Lagidze, Otar Taktakishvili, and others. His repertoire featured ten of Nikolai Myaskovsky's symphonies (he performed the premiere of one of them, the Twenty-Second, in Tbilisi in 1941). Stasevich was particularly devoted to the music of Sergey Prokofyev. He conducted many of this great composer's works and also was the first to perform suites from the ballet Cinderella in his own interpretation. His arrangement of the oratorio based on Prokofyev's music to the film "Ivan the Terrible" still enjoys great popularity to this day.
Stasevich also had a particularly reverent attitude towards the creative work of Dmitri Shostakovich, whose compositions were regularly performed under his baton and who found in him a profound and sensitive interpreter. It is obvious that the great composer himself was also very fond of the conductor. One of the orchestra musicians recalled that Shostakovich brought Stasevich with him to rehearsals "as usual". Incidentally, let us hear what Evgeny Svetlanov has to say: "Stasevich often performed Shostakovich's works. He thought they were of an extremely dramatic nature, resonating with the heart strings of this musician, who was a contemporary of the great composer. I remember how Stasevich arranged Shostakovich's Eighth Quartet for a large string orchestra and called it 'Sinfonietta'. In that arrangement, the composition made an enormous impression. It stands to reason that Dmitri Dmitriyevich, who liked Stasevich's work very much, gave this his personal approval. There were many new elements in his interpretations of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth symphonies. Stasevich was able to convey the dramatic intensity of Shostakovich's music, his unique subtle lyricism, and the philosophical depth and faith in man that penetrated the creative work of our outstanding composer."
There can be no doubt that this piece of authoritative evidence in itself makes the current publication of this orchestral transcription very opportune. It will certainly be of interest to a large number of conductors both in Russia and beyond.

Lev GINZBURG