Sofia Gubaidulina (born 1931)
Sofia Gubaidulina is perhaps the most prominent living Russian composer.
Born in Chistopol to parents of Russian and Tatar ancestry in the Tatar Republic of the USSR (now in the Republic of Tatarstan), Sofia Gubaidulina has been composing since the age of 5. She studied at the Kazan Conservatory and continued at the Moscow Conservatory. Her early compositions were unorthodox, and she was considered by her instructors be on a “mistaken path,” but she was supported by Dmitri Shostakovich, who is reputed to have told her “I want you to continue down your mistaken path.” Since 1992 she has lived in Hamburg and has used German words in the titles of her compositions.
Musically, Sofia Gubaidulina has cited Bach, Shostakovich, and Webern as her greatest influences. Her compositions are often informed by her strong religious and spiritual beliefs, which she had to keep secret during her earlier years in the USSR. She is fond of percussion, unusual instruments, and the use of extended techniques on traditional instruments, including experiments with microtonality and electronics. Numerous compositions make use of the bayan, a Russian button accordion.
A wide variety of Sofia Gubaidulina’s compositions are available on YouTube. This is her 2009 composition Fachwerk (“Framework”), a concerto for bayan, percussion, and strings that veers from the mysterious and contemplative, through sonically amazing passages, into quite an astonishing final several minutes.
This is her violin concerto Dialog: Ich und Du from 2018: