Anatoly Alexandrov: Elegy and Waltz, Op. 89

Introduction

The Elegy, and the Waltz Op 89 (1964) (which is traditionally elegiac in Russian music) are dedicated to Nina Alexandrova’s memory – comparatively quiet and pensive pieces, in which the symbolic moment of dying is compellingly caught. There is no trace here of the piano pieces that Alexandrov composed in the twelve-tone technique during the 1960s; and the composer never published such ephemeral excursions into atonality that he wrote more out of curiosity than inner conviction.