Ivanovs, Janis (1906 - 1983)
Biography Works
The author of 21 symphonies,
several concerti and symphonic poems, Ivanovs has gone into history
as the most noteworthy Latvian symphonic composer of the second
half of the 20th century.
Jānis Ivanovs (1906, Preiļi – 1983, Riga) graduated from
Georg Schnéevoigt’s conducting class in 1931 and Jāzeps Vītols’
composition class in 1933 at the Latvian Conservatory. From 1944 to
his death in 1983, he taught composition and orchestration there
(today the Latvian Academy of Music). In the 1930s, Ivanovs worked
as a sound engineer, later (1944–1961) as the artistic director of
Latvian Radio.
Already in the 1930s, Jānis Ivanovs had developed a highly
individual style, rooted in a synthesis of late romanticism,
folklore, and impressionism. With the music of Ivanovs, a new level
of clear, constructive form and precision entered Latvian symphonic
music, which excluded expressive approximation and passiveness. His
works gained a new dimension of dramaticism and monumentalism in
the decades following WWII under the influence of expressionism and
neo-classicism. His 4th and 5th Symphonies were attacked for being
musically formalistic and denounced during the infamous 1948
campaign of the Zhdanov
aesthetic.
When the intensity of ideological manipulation thawed
somewhat after the death of Stalin, Jānis Ivanovs was gradually
able to recapture the depth of psychological expression he had
attained earlier, in his 7th (1953) and especially his 8th Symphony
(1956). After his Piano Concerto (1959), beginning with his 9th
Symphony and continuing up to his 21st Symphony (1983, completed
and orchestrated by Juris Karlsons), Ivanovs’ symphonic music
became decidedly more dramatic, monumental, even philosophic,
although the dramatic elements therein are individualized in each
work. The dramatic aspects of his symphonies are multi-layered. One
is defined by the eternal artistic concept “the individual vs.
mankind”. It is associated with a strong will, self-proclamation,
and an energetic struggle, as well as the pain of loss and
resignation. But alongside this psychological layer there is also a
second dramatic element, which portrays conflicts of the external
world. The disguising of these two dramatic spheres and the motion
from one to the other is one of the most characteristic
idiosyncrasies in the symphonic music of Jānis
Ivanovs.
Ivanovs’ complete symphonic works are being released by the
British recording
company Campion.
Arnolds Klotiņš