Edison Denisov - Variations on a theme by Handel

Paul Armengaud - Piano 00:00 Theme - Var I - X 06:51 XI - XV 15:25 XVI - XXII Edison Denisov (1929-1996) was a Russian and Soviet Composer. He is part of the so-called “Underground“, “alternative“ or “nonconformist“ division of Soviet music. He studied mathematics before deciding to spend his life composing. In 1951–56 Denisov studied at the Moscow Conservatory: composition with Vissarion Shebalin, orchestration with Nikolay Rakov, analysis with Viktor Tsukkerman and piano with Vladimir Belov. He began his own study of scores that were difficult to obtain in the USSR at that time, including music by composers ranging from Mahler and Debussy to Boulez and Stockhausen. He wrote a series of articles giving a detailed analysis of different aspects of contemporary compositional techniques and at same time actively experimented as a composer, trying to find his own way. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he taught orchestration and later composition there. His pupils included the composers Dmitri Smi