| Alexander Mosolov, born 1900, was a hero of the Civil War being twice decorated with the Order of the Red Banner for heroism. After the war he became a student of Gliere and Myaskovsky. Mosolov embraced the freedom of expression which characterized the post-Revolutionary years and became famous for his ballet, 'Stal' of 1928, from which a three-minute piece entitled 'Zavod' (Factory) was to become a celebrated orchestral showpiece in its own right in both the USSR and the West. Mosolov's avant-garde musical practices earned him serious criticism in the 1930's and he was expelled in 1936 from the Union of Soviet Composers. Subsequently, Mosolov radically altered his musical style, taking a strong interest in the folk music of the constituent republics of the USSR Many of Mosolov's earlier works were lost when a suitcase containing his manuscripts went astray. Of those surviving, 'Four Newspaper Advertisements' op. 21 and 'Three Children's Scenes' op. 18, both composed in 1926, typify the desire of the composer at that time to startle, amaze and particularly to pose as a musical 'enfant terrible'. |
