Oborin, Lev Nikolaevich

Lev Oborin was born on August 29 ( September 11 ), 1907 in Moscow in the family of a railway engineer.

He studied at school number 327 in the Big Three Saints Lane ^[3] . In 1921 he graduated from the Gnesins Music College in piano (class N. N. Malyutina, then - E. F. Gnesina ). He was also engaged in composition with A.T. Grechaninov , intending to become a composer in the future. In 1921-1926 he continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky in two specialties: “piano” (class of K. N. Igumnov ) and “composition” (class of G. E. Konus , then N. Ya. Myaskovsky and G. L. Catoir ).

In 1927 , studying in graduate school with K.N. Igumnov, he gained fame by winning the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw . Even then, critics noted the maturity and academic nature of its execution.

Says Professor G. M. Tsypin ^[4] :

“In December 1926, in Moscow, the prospectus of the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw was received. Musicians from the USSR were invited. The problem was that there was actually no time left to prepare for the competition. “Three weeks before the start of the competition, Igumnov showed me the competition program,” Oborin later recalled. - In my repertoire was about a third of the compulsory competition program. Training in such conditions seemed pointless. " Nevertheless, he began to prepare: insisted Igumnov and one of the most respected musicians of the time B.L. Yavorsky , whose opinion Oborin was considered to the highest degree. “If you really want to, you can speak,” said Yavorsky to Oborin. And he believed. "

Solomon Volkov :

For the Soviet delegation as a whole, the performance at the Warsaw Competition was an incredible success - against all expectations. Oborin managed to win the first prize. As Ilya Ehrenburg wrote: “Diplomats had to shy away and the Poles admit that Chopin performs the best Moskal best of all.” In the government newspaper " Izvestia " there was a caricature of Stalin's favorite - Boris Efimov , portraying the triumphant nineteen-year-old Oborin and ready to burst from the wickedness of the decrepit enemies of the Soviet Union, with the ironic signature: "Moscow’s hands are acting here."

Stalin, of course, was informed about the enthusiasm of the great Polish composer Karol Szymanowski : “This cannot be called success, not even a splash. It was a solid triumphal procession, a triumph! ”

- S.M. Volkov. "Shostakovich and Stalin: the artist and the king" ^[5]

During his studies at the conservatory, he was a member of the Moscow Six group of young composers together with V. Ya. Shebalin , M. L. Starokadomsky , M. M. Cheremukhin, Yu. S. Nikolsky and M. V. Quadri.

The author of a number of piano pieces, including sonatas, romances, scherzo for orchestra, etc.

After winning the F. Chopin competition, he began intensive concert activity in the USSR and abroad. In individual seasons he gave up to 100 solo concerts, which forced him to leave composing music.

During the war, continued to speak on the All-Union Radio , was part of the front concert brigades. Since 1943 he played in the ensemble with violinist D.F. Oistrakh and cellist S.N. Knushevitsky . This ensemble lasted until the death of S. N. Knushevitsky in 1963 .

He became famous as a performer of Russian piano music, primarily - the works of P.I. Tchaikovsky , as well as a chamber musician - his recording of all violin sonatas by L. van Beethoven with D.F. Oistrakh is still considered one of the best performances of this cycle. The pianist’s repertoire also included works by S. V. Rachmaninov , N. K. Metner , S. S. Prokofiev , D. D. Shostakovich , F. Chopin , R. Schuman , F. Liszt , as well as the first piano concerto A I. Khachaturian .

From 1928 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory a chamber ensemble, from 1930 - a special piano (in 1954-1959 and from 1965 he headed the department) (since 1935 - professor ).

Over the years, he educated more than 100 students, among them - M. S. Voskresensky , V. D. Ashkenazi , G. N. Rozhdestvensky , S. I. Osipenko , V. V. Selivokhin , A. G. Sevidov , B. A Tchaikovsky , T. A. Alikhanov , I. M. Krasilnikov , T. G. Miansarova and many others.

Since 1962 - Chairman of the Council of Professors of the Piano Faculty.

Author of several original works and articles on performing arts.

Lev Nikolaevich Oborin died on January 5, 1974 in Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery (plot number 2). The tombstone shows the years of birth and death: 1910 - 1974 ^[6] .

Family

• Wife - Olga Nikorichna Oborina (1921–1979), a teacher at the school of television announcers.

• First F. Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw (1st prize, 1927)
• Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1945)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1955) ^[7]
• People's Artist of the USSR (1964)
• Stalin Prize of the second degree (1943) - for concert performance
• State Prize of the RSFSR named after M.I. Glinka (1966) - for concert performance
• Two Orders of Lenin (1946, in connection with the 80th anniversary of the Moscow Conservatory; 1966, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Moscow Conservatory)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor
• Order of the Badge of Honor (1937)
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin "
• Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow”
• Order of Brotherhood and Unity (1945, Yugoslavia )

• For voice and symphony orchestra - Fantastic Scherzo (1925);
• For piano - Four Preludes (1922–1923), Counterpoint Notebook (strict style, 1922–1923), Piece (1923), Two Pieces (1924), Prelude (1924), Two Pieces (1926), Four Pieces (ed. 1927), Three Pieces (Prelude, Intermezzo, Dance, ed. 1933);
• Sonatas: I, II (1926-1927);
• For voice and string quartet - the romance “Birch” (lyrics by A. Fet , 1923);
• For voice and piano - romances “Lullaby” (lyrics by A. Akhmatova , 1925), “Accompanied by a friend” (lyrics by A. Akhmatova, 1925), “Song” (lyrics by V. Kozin , 1930).

• Rabinovich D.A. Portraits of pianists. - M .: Owls. composer, 1962 .-- 268 p. (chapter on Oborin L.N. - pp. 133-154).
• Khentova S. Lev Oborin. - L .: “Music”, 1964 .
• L. N. Oborin. Articles. Memoirs / Ed. M.G. Sokolov. M., 1977.
• L. N. Oborin - teacher / Sost. E.K. Kulova. M., 1989.
• O. Chernikov. Great lion. The magazine "Music and Time", No. 5, 2003 .
• O. Chernikov. The piano and the voices of the great. Series: Music Library. Publisher: Phoenix, 2011 , Hardcover, 224 pp. ISBN 978-5-222-17864-5

• Lev Oborin's page on the website of the Moscow Conservatory