Abram Lvovich Stasevich (Abram Stasevich) |

Abram Stasevich

Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1957). Stasevich was simultaneously preparing for conducting activities both at the Moscow Conservatory and in the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1931 he graduated from the conservatory in the cello class of S. Kozolupov, and in 1937 in the conducting class of Leo Ginzburg. And all this time the student gained experience playing in the orchestra under the guidance of outstanding conductors, both Soviet and foreign.

In 1936-1937, Stasevich was an assistant to E. Senkar, who then worked with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. The young conductor made his debut with this group in April 1937. That evening, N. Myaskovsky’s Sixteenth Symphony, V. Enke’s Concerto for Orchestra (for the first time) and fragments from The Quiet Flows the Don by I. Dzerzhinsky were performed under his direction.

This program is in many ways indicative of Stasevich’s creative aspirations. The conductor always saw his main performing task in the tireless propaganda of Soviet music. Working in 1941 in Tbilisi, he was the first performer of N. Myaskovsky’s Twenty-Second Symphony. Ten symphonies by this composer are included in the artist’s repertoire. Many listeners from different cities got acquainted with the works of D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian, D. Kabalevsky, N. Peiko, M. Chulaki, L. Knipper performed by Stasevich.

Among Stasevich’s deepest affections is the music of S. Prokofiev. He conducts many of his works, and the suites from the ballet Cinderella were performed in his interpretation for the first time. Of great interest is the composition of the oratorio based on Prokofiev’s music for the film “Ivan the Terrible”.

In his programs, Stasevich willingly refers to the work of composers of the Union republics of our country – under his leadership, the works of K. Karaev, F. Amirov, S. Gadzhibekov, A. Kapp, A. Shtogarenko, R. Lagidze, O. Taktakishvili and others were performed. Stasevich also acts as a performer of his own cantata-oratorio works.

Throughout his career, the conductor had a chance to perform with many different groups. He worked, in particular, with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in Novosibirsk (1942-1944), with the All-Union Radio Grand Symphony Orchestra (1944-1952), and then traveled a lot around the Soviet Union. In 1968, Stasevich successfully toured the United States.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969