Alexey Larin
Alexey Larin was born in 1954 in Saratov, in the Volga River Valley of Russia. He began his music education at the Moscow Choral School for Boys and later attended the Gnessin Music School, where he studied composition with Professor N.Peiko. Mr. Larin himself began to teach at the Gnessin Music School (later called Gnessin Academy of Music) in 1978, eventually becoming a professor of composition and orchestration in 1998. He has become an important teacher of young composers in Russia, and has published articles on his pedagogical and compositional principles and aesthetics (e.g. in Musical Academy magazine).
Mr. Larin's compositions have been performed by such esteemed artists as V.Fedoseev, V.Dudarova, I.Golovchin, K.Orbelyan, V.Ponkin, A.Vedernikov, F.Mansurov, V.Kozhukhar, D.Orlov, V.Minin, S.Gusev, L.Yermakova, L.Litsova, V.Semenyuk, G.Dmitryak, V.Sudakov, N.Nekrasov, N.Kalinin, S.Kolobkov, P.Burchuladse, R.Holl, V.Matorin, M.Krutikov, P.Gluboky, S.Baikov, A.Safiulin, M.Shaposhnikova, F.Lips, M.Gorobtsov, N.Babkina and many others. Likewise, Mr. Larin himself regularly takes part in performing his music as a pianist, organist, conductor and member of the choir. He has participated in numerous performances (more than 130) of his cantata Christmas Carols, his oratorio Russian Passion, and other works in Austria, Cuba, Cyprus, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vietnam and Russia.
As seen here at the Classical Archives, Mr. Larin's output focuses largely on choral music, such as the Russian Passion, featured here at the Classical Archives - the first instance of a Russian setting of this sacred vocal tradition, using tradition Russian Orthodox texts, along with those of the New Testament and Russian folk texts. Likewise important are works involving Russian folk instruments, often stretching the traditional uses of these instruments. These genres then compliment his interest in chamber and symphonic writing, as well as creating transcriptions of older works - all of which can be heard here.
Mr. Larin has won several international composition awards, including Musica Mundi Award (Germany, 1997), Classical Heritage Award (Russia, 1999), and the Jihlava Award (Czech Republic, 2000). He is an honorary visiting professor of music at Korea University, and is a member of the Composers' Union of Russia. We are pleased to feature his music here at the Classical Archives.
From: https://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/2868.html
Reviews
"[Russian Passion] is its own genre - an original "liturgy" uniting traditional orthodox texts, texts from the New Testament, Russian folk texts and onomatopoetic phonemes... [his] music possesses the rare ability to evoke a strong emotional rapport with a listener."
Musical Academy (Russia)
"A striking feature of Alexei Larin's music is its close affinity with Russian culture, both folk and professional, along with Russian folk songs."
Music in the USSR (Russia)