Conducting Lessons of Prof. Ilya Musin, St.Petersburg Conservatory.

Ilya Musin has been lecturing at the Conservatory for several decades and won an international renown as a lecturer and teacher of conducting who wields a unique educational method, described by him in several books. The list of his disciples who he has led into a successful performing career would enumerate more that two hundred names. The most celebrated among them are Yurij Temirkanov the main conductor at Shostakovitch Philharmonic in St.Petersburg, the main visiting conductor of the Royal Symphony Orchestra, London, the Baltimore Symphony and the Danish Symphony Orchestras. Semion Bychkov conducts Orchestre de Paris, while the rising star of Valerij Gergiev of Kirovsky Theatre in St.Petersburg is today the main visiting conductor of Metropolitan Opera. Others are Vladislav Chernushenko the main conductor of Chapel State Choral Society, Oleg Markievitch who conducts the Frankfurter Orchestra, Germany, V.Sinajsky and A.Titov, the latter three being laureates of Karajan's International Conductors Competition. All in all, professor Musin's former students now are to be found everywhere in the world of music: they are K. Kolchinskaya in the United States, Edwards Shan and Martin Brabbins in the UK, Keddl Olli in Finland, M.Kabaliero in the Latin America etc., etc.

It is due to his unceasing efforts in the education field for more than 60 (!) years that the Russian school of conducting has won an incontestable international recognition, and Russian conductors are nowadays working to a great acclaim all around the world. His method based on a sophisticated and well-grounded system of teaching techniques has proved to be able to yield amazing results.

Books by Musin such as "Conducting techniques" and "How to train a conductor" that were off the shell the time they came out, now being rarities, are manuals that will sustain any comparison. However, first, they are devoid of the most essential thing in the teaching procedure the actual live performance of conducting the teacher gives during a lecture. It is more to matter in the case of Musin whose former and current students unanimously declare that, of course, one has to listen to him, but one must watch him lecturing or at least see him once in his life. To add to all obstacles, both handbooks are still available in Russian only.

Thus a videotape programme that presents Prof. Musin's unique conducting lessons as a complete, consolidated course, is bound to become extremely helpful to college or university students and teachers of music, particularly to those of them who has no opportunity to come a long way to St.Petersburg and enrol to attend his lectures at the Conservatory.

The four cassettes in the kit (5 hours of recording) cover all aspects of the academic curriculum: theory lectures, practical training with extensive demonstration of the elements of conducting technique, the actual work of students on pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov etc. guided by Prof. Musin, video recordings of performances and rehearsals conducted by Musin's prominent disciples. The video series is supported by a handy-formatted manual specially prepared by Ilya Musin to help the viewer of the course with his self-study.

Top of the page

Musin's disciples at the conductor's stand

The tape features fragments of video recordings of Yurij Temirkanov, Valerij Gergiev, V. Sinaisky, O. Dmitriadi, Vladislav Chernushenko, A. Katz and Ilya Musin himself with The Philharmonic Orchestra of St.Petersburg.
Total duration: 1 hr 30 min.

Rehearsals with Yurij Temirkanov

The tape presents video recordings of rehearsals of Yurij Temirkanov (1997-1998) with St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Among the music pieces covered here are Sibelius Sym. No. 2; Maurice Ravel Waltz; Rimsky-Korsakov Shekheresada; Shostakovitch Sym. No 10; Tchaikovsky Sym. No.5.
Total duration: 1 hr 30 min.

Top of the page

Yurij Temirkanov's master-class at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia

A video cassette of master-class of the celebrated Russian conductor at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, USA (December 1998), the orchestra of students playing No. 3 Symphony by Beethoven.
Total duration: 1 hr

Yurij Temirkanov conducting at St.Petersburg Philharmonic

Recordings of concerts at St.Petersburg Philharmonic in 1997-1998 season featuring Carnival in Rome by Hector Berliouse, Bruch's concert No. 1 for violin and orchestra (solo -- P. Frank, USA), Iberia by Debussy, Ravel's Waltz, Symphony No. 2 of Sibelius, No. 10 Symphony by Shostakovitch, Chimes by Rodion Schedrin, Albenis Tango and Shekheresada by Rymsky-Korsakov.
Total duration: 2 hrs.

Top of the page