Arkadi Agababov

Biography

Arkadi Agababov belongs to the generation of composers shaped in the 60-70^th.

He was born in 1940 in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan, where he got his primary musical education and graduated from the local musical college (1962). In Leningrad (St. Petersburg) A.Agababov studied composition with prof. Boris Arapov (till 1967) and afterwards continued his post-graduation studies under the same professor. Since 1967 he has become a member of the USSR Union of Composers. Since 1973 A.Agababov has worked in the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Conservatory, the instrumentation department, and led the course of instrumentation and score reading. Docent (1988).

Numerous works by Agababov have been awarded in various competitions.

The performers with whom A.Agababov collaborates include such well-know musicians as Nina Oksentyan (organ), Vitaly Buyanovsky (French horn), Peter Lilie, Yuvgeni Ionesyan (conductor), Murad Kazhlayev (conductor and composer) etc.

Agababov’s professional interests are mainly concentrated on large-scale instrumental opuses, i.e. symphony, sonata, concert. The aspiration for solving of age-long problems of being satiates his works with the latency of programmers and evident inclination for psychological drama. At the same time, the author very often introduces non-personal, eternal and immutable categories into the lyrical elements of his work. This is epos in its national aspect (the Armenian and Russian ones), as well as lofty religious emotions both showed in making use of organ as a timbre symbol consciously connected with the classics of the baroque culture (Bach, Handel).

The music by Agababov is emotionally opened and very impulsive. Very often it is distinguished with the feeling of mental suffering which at reaches times its tragical climax. It can be caused, among private and common reasons of him, by a biographical factor: in 1928 the family of Agababov (Agababiants) was forced to leave for Daghestan , after a terrible massacre which resulted in death of its eleven members killed by Turks. That fact has been stamped in the memory of A.Agababov, although he was born much more later , but he hold the history of his nation in remembrance.

Agababov’s works attract with their raised themes, sound, free and fanciful rhythmic, highly colourful orchestration.

The work by A.Agababov is distinguished with a striking and picturesque vision of the world, with plastic expressiveness and artistism.

The most interesting in has music is a dialoque of cultures – European traditions and East.

These two models are closely interacted, attracting and spurning each other and creating unordinary plot collisions of his instrumental dramas.