Alexander Wustin

born in Moscow in 1943, he studied composition first with Grigori Fried at a music college and then with Vladimir Feré at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, graduating in 1969. After five years as music editor at ussr Radio (1969–74), he started working as an editor in the ‘Kompositor’ publishing house.
His pieces have been featured in many major festivals including Tage für Neue Musik (Zürich), the Holland Festival, 14th Musik Biennale Berlin, Présences 93 (Paris), Melos-Ethos (Bratislava), Maraton Soudobne Hudby (Prague), Donaueschinger Musiktage and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie (Germany), Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus (Austria), the Moscow Forum and Moscow Autumn. His music has attracted such prominent conductors, ensembles and soloists as Reinbert de Leeuw, Lev Markiz, Alexander Lazarev, Martyn Brabbins, Christoph Hagel, the Amsterdam Wind Orchestra, the Schönberg Ensemble, the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Nieuw Sinfonietta in Amsterdam, the Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble, the Studio for New Music Moscow, the Bolshoi Theatre Soloists’ Ensemble, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Quatuor Danel (France), the bbc Symphony Orchestra, Fridrich Lips and Gidon Kremer.
Wustin’s musical language is distinctive for the remarkable organization of its musical texture. Influenced by the twelve-tone procedures, he devised his own system of the 12-fold restatement of series in which a whole musical fragment develops from a ‘tone’, which is the smallest unit of measure. Different permutations of this initial unit form series of the highest order.

Selected works (since 1990): Zaitsev’s Letter for narrator, strings and bass drum, text: Sergey Zaitsev (1990), White Music for organ (1990), Action in the Spirit of Luigi for percussion ensemble (1990), Film Music, suite for percussion, orchestra and choir (1991), Three Songs from Andrey Platonov’s Novel Chevengur for soprano and ensemble (1992), Dedication to the Son for flute and ensemble (1992), Vox Humana for organ (1992), Musica in Two Movements for bassoon solo (1993), Agnus Dei for choir, percussion and organ (1993), The Birth of the Piece for two violins, viola and cello (1994), For the Flame for bassoon and piano (1994), Kleines Requiem for soprano and string quartet (1994), Music for Angel, trio for saxophone, vibraphone and cello (1995), Disappearance for bayan, cello and string orchestra (1995), Fantasy for violin and chamber orchestra (1996), Tango Hommage ą Guidon for violin and chamber orchestra (1997), Message for piano (1997), Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello (1998), Mark Pekarsky’s Birthday for percussion ensemble (1998), Canto for violin, viola and cello, text: A. Pushkin (1999), Veni Sancte Spiritus for choir and ensemble (1999), Peaceful Light for voice (1999), Praise to the Earth for boys’ choir and chamber orchestra, text: Olga Sedakova (1999), Sine Nomine for orchestra (2000).

Trio is among the compositions which express the ‘pathos of number’, the forming role of the number symmetry with the greatest intensity and concentration. In the Trio this formative role is given to the following numbers: 18, 15 and 12, which organize the whole time structure of the composition.
The piece is another in the series of Vustin’s compositions ‘in me-moriam’, the other being Kleines Requiem (1994), Disappearance (1995) and Message (1997).