Boris Tchaikovsky

Russian composer Boris Tchaikovsky (1925–1996) was born in Moscow and studied composition and piano at Moscow Conservatory from 1942 to 1949 under Shostakovich, Shebalin, Miaskovsky and Oborin. After that, he found an editorial post in the musical department of All-Union Radio, but in 1952, he decided to leave the job in order to devote himself to composing. From then on, he earned his living from his music. His oeuvre includes orchestral works, chamber music and film music. He wrote more than fifty cinema and TV film scores, incidental music for radio and theatrical plays. During the last years of his life (from 1989 to 1996) he taught at the Russian Academy of Music, where he was a Professor in the department of composition. He is considered as part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of Piotr Tchaikovsky (to whom he was not related and especially Mussorgsky. Of his larger-scale works, almost all have been recorded. Boris Tchaikovsky generally wrote in a tonal style, although he made brief forays into serialism.