Svetlanov Days

My work as a composer continues the chain of the great tradition of Russian music. For that reason, it may seem conservative today, but I am calm about the future generation: look how interest in the music of Myaskovsky and Medtner has now re-emerged. This is what makes me believe that my music will meet with a similar fate. I am drawn to broad melodic arches, vivid, rich, and full-bodied harmonies, and the polyphony that grows out of them — or, on the contrary, to the kind found in Mahler, the composer dearest to me throughout my life. On the other hand, the rhythm of my works is simple and subordinate to their melody. In this sphere I have managed to find my own personal style, somewhat in the manner of Myaskovsky, though without the sharp-edged chords by which one recognizes Shostakovich from the very first sounds…