The Last Romantic (For the 80th Birthday of Alexander Rabinovich-Barakovsky)

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DOI 10.34690/472

Author Aleksey Yu. Munipov

Abstract

Composer Alexander Rabinovich-Barakovsky has turned 80. In the USSR, he was known as the author of complex sonoristic and aleatoric compositions and a pianist who undertook to perform the most puzzling avant-garde scores. He communicated with great masters: Shostakovich, Schnittke, and Khachaturian. A small circle of friends and like-minded people idolised him. After emigration, in conditions of obscurity and isolation, Rabinovich-Barakovsky found his own composer’s language: pushing off from collage technique and experiments with electronics, he came to minimalism, based on 19th-century romantic music material and numerology. His works were performed in the largest concert halls of Europe and America, many of them were released on compact discs, and he was recorded and performed as a conductor and pianist. Despite the apparent success, the composer does not consider it a sign of recognition but an accidental luck. The essay presents Rabinovich-Barakovsky’s image as the first Soviet minimalist and the last European romantic, examines the circumstances of his life, focuses on the most important aspects of his work, and provides memories of A. Lyubimov, E. Dubinets, M. Drobinsky, A. Batagov, and other colleagues.

Keywords minimalism, Soviet musical avant-garde, electronic music, repetitive composition

For citation

Munipov, A. Yu. “The Last Romantic (for the 80th birthday of Alexander Rabinovich-Barakovsky).” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 2, 2025, pp. 212–221, doi:10.34690/472. (In Russ.)

Published 13.03.2025

Approved 27.03.2025

Submitted 27.06.2025

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The Last Romantic (For the 80th Birthday of Alexander Rabinovich-­Barakovsky)

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