Final volume in the first-ever complete recorded cycle of symphonies by Talivaldis Keninš (1919-2008), one of the most prominent post-WW2 composers in Latvia and Canada. This album includes three of the composer's eight numbered symphonies performed by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under Andris Poga.

Grateful thanks to Ondine for offering this cycle! Hopefully this will bring Ķeniņš' music to a wider audience. Ķeniņš was tremendously supportive of younger composers. On a personal note, I met him at a couple of concerts in the 1980s when my music was being performed and he was kind enough to spend some time critiquing my pieces and offering constructive suggestions. His son George has great stories about his late father, who apparently had a sly sense of humor and on one occasion when the CBC commissioned an instrumental work from him, he based the work on a theme around the notes C-B-C (no, I don't remember which work).

On a more serious note, has anyone noticed that links from this forum are being harvested and reposted on AMLF? I saw several today when I was poking around there to see what was happening.

I, for one, do not want to see my posts appropriated by "greek" so I will not be uploading anything further here for the time being until we can figure out how to prevent this from happening.

I've mentioned my view on Sydney/greek/whoever-he-is to others privately already, but for the record it seems as though he is mentally ill. I won't be drawn into his rants and accusations. Our responding to his craziness simply feeds his grandiosity and need for external drama. This is how he feels alive. His behavior is strongly reminiscent of unsavory aspects of a certain former American president who is living in a nightmarish fantasy world and trying to drag the rest of the world into his nightmare.

Firstly, it's great to be back in the company of many friends and fellow music lovers after the recent AMF calamity. I hope this new forum prospers, grows, and remains vibrant for all of us and those yet to come. Thanks to Albion for initiating it!

So, recently our fellow forum member and music lover Christopher sent me the piano/vocal score to an opera by Eižens Buke and urged me to provide a realization of the overture. The technical requirements of the piano writing are somewhat beyond my capabilities, but I suggested that I could input the music into Sibelius music notation software, make some appropriate adjustments, and record the resulting playback. Here it is: https://www.mediafire.com/file/61odm5wm1fwd4qd/Buke__Fate_-_Ovt.mp3/file.

I became aware of Buke about twenty years ago and was intrigued with his story, which you can read about below. There are numerous fringe figures in Latvian music (and, I'm sure, in most any national music) but his seemed an exceptionally odd tale, and all the more mysterious since it was impossible to find any of his music or hear any recordings considering he had been such an accomplished individual.

Here is my translation of a journal article about Buke, published in 1936 by prominent Latvian musician Ernests Brusubārdis:

Some will find it odd to hear Buke’s name mentioned only now, 17 years after his death. Why haven't we encountered his name before in the past 30 years, either at Latvian concerts or at major song festivals? It’s not easy to say, perhaps this and that will become clear only with time.

The mention of Buke’s name is painfully bitter, with the knowledge that we have lost him forever and do not even know his burial place. Now, we will try to look a bit more closely at the work and life’s journey of this untimely composer.

Eižens Buke was born in Riga on October 26, 1877, where his father, Jānis Buke, acted as an official in the financial department of the railways. The Buke family came from Krimulda parish and Jānis Buke had enjoyed a certain amount of education, having graduated from a well-known Riga area school. Buke’s father worked for 57 years for the railroad, outlived his son, and died on February 25, 1927. He strove to provide an education for his son, giving him the opportunity to finish high school in Riga and to take music lessons. Little Eižens studied in turn violin and piano, but being naturally very restless did not systematically pursue his music lessons.

Only in later years did Buke stick to his musical studies with greater devotion, finally deciding to devote himself entirely to this art. After a short preparation, Buke entered the Moscow State Conservatory, choosing violin as his specialty. But the years made themselves felt and Buke found it difficult to attain a higher level of technique. His professor, Salin, advised him to abandon the violin and choose a wind instrument instead. Buke agreed and transferred to the bassoon class, in part also because of his lack of funds, having to pay 200 gold rubles to study the violin, while he was able to study bassoon as a scholarship student, freed from the need to pay tuition.

At this time, Buke experienced tangible material difficulties, as his father began to run out of funds. Buke, like other Latvian conservatory students, then tried to apply for assistance to the Music Commission of the Riga Latvian Society. Having submitted some songs he had composed, he hoped to be awarded a scholarship. But here he experienced bitter disappointment. The Music Commission of the Riga Latvian Society rejected Buke’s request, basing the refusal on the grounds that, according to information gathered, the applicant’s accomplishments were deemed insufficient to merit a scholarship. One of his teachers had sent information to the music commission that Buke wasn't sufficiently serious to expect any success from him.

The announcement came to the attention of some of Buke's relatives, who had helped support the young musician as much as possible. Hearing such an unfavorable review, they refused to give Buke any further funds. This development worsened the Buke’s situation in Moscow to such an extent that there was almost no likelihood of for him to continue his studies at the conservatory. This teacher and Buke’s relatives in Riga were very mistaken in thinking that Buke would now leave the conservatory and abandon music. Though struggling with the shortage of funds, Buke did not abandon his studies, rather made every effort to finish them. Buke finally succeeded, and the conservatory's bassoon class was completed not as usual, but with the highest accolade - a medal. In addition to bassoon studies, Buke also worked at music theory, composing songs and piano works. Everyone advised Buke to continue his studies at the conservatory in the composition theory department with the prominent composer Professor Sergey Taneyev, and Buke took that advice.

Regarding Buke's achievements in composition, the ever-strict Taneyev was delighted and responded very positively, predicting a shining future for the young composer. Taneyev was not mistaken. At one of the evenings of symphonic music of young Moscow composers, Buke's overture for Ibsen's drama "Heroes of the North" was performed, under the composer’s direction, and was a brilliant success. The audience, including Taneyev and other Moscow musical authorities, warmly summoned Buke for several curtain calls. It was then that the famous conductor and strict director of the Moscow Conservatory, Safonov, was so delighted with Buke, that he stepped on stage, hugged the young composer, kissed him, shook his hand, and applauded for a long time. Safonov's enthusiastic acknowledgments meant a great deal, since this strict gentleman was very rarely excited about others. Buke conquered the Moscow musical world at once. I was present at this triumph of Buke’s and I remember it as if it were today -- a man of tall stature came on stage, stood at the conductor's podium, and despite the presence of famous professors sitting in the orchestra, among them Grshimali, von Glentz and others, confidently raised his baton and led his composition with such captivating suggestiveness and clarity of performance that those present were taken by surprise.

Buke gained general prominence not only as a composer, but also as a symphony orchestra conductor. Moscow's music critics, with Engel and Kruglykov at the forefront, lauded Buke in their reviews, and of the six young composers on the evening’s program, declared Buke's "Heroes of the North" and Buke’s confident ability as a conductor to be particularly distinguished. Buke then also conducted the orchestra for Professor Prince Dulow's violin concert, and Dulow played Buke's violin romance as an encore, with the composer deftly accompanying him at the piano. Buke's premiere was so brilliant shortly he received an invitation from the Zimin Opera to sign a contract there, assuming the duties of conductor and choirmaster. The terms were profitable, Buke signed the contract, and continued to work there uninterruptedly for more almost 15 years.


Assuming the duties of conductor at Zimin's opera company, Buke worked extremely hard, but also knew how to set aside time for himself to compose. Before long, Buke presented Zimin with the fully completed score of his opera "Fate", the piano reduction of which was quickly published by the Jürgenson music publishing house. "Fate" was premiered in Moscow at the Zimin Opera in 1903 and it brought the composer new fame. After some time, his second opera appeared, "Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich", which was also performed there. As far as is known, Buke had his portfolio a third opera, the name of which has not remained in my memory and which the composer sold to an American theater during the Russian Revolution. As a very gifted composer and conductor in Moscow, especially at the Zimin Opera, Buck, everyone quickly came to love and highly respect him, from the director to the staff. Buke conducted not only at Zimin's opera house, but also in the Hermitage and Sokolyniki, where I frequently had the opportunity to attend his successful performances.

In Moscow, Buke achieved a fine name for himself and the entire musical community lauded his musical abilities. Only in his hometown of Riga was there no mention of Buke. The Latvian press at that time was completely silent about Buke’s accompllishments. When the Latvian Song Festival was held in Riga in 1910, a day’s program was dedicated to Latvian symphonic music, no one wanted to know about Buke. Buke was hoping there would be interest in him in Riga, but the wait was in vain. As far as is known, Buke was the sort of person who never wanted to humble himself before others. So, Buke remained unknown to the Latvian public as a composer-conductor. Once, however, Buke came to Riga in the summer and organized a symphonic concert in Jurmala, programming only his works. The concert passed the almost unnoticed, because at that time Latvian listeners were even less interested in symphonic music than now, and Buke’s didn’t advertise the concert widely, since he was not in the habit of doing so in Moscow.

Another notable case comes to my mind. When a Latvian opera troupe was formed in St. Petersburg in 1918 and needed an experienced opera conductor, again Buke was forgotten and overlooked, and not asked if he would be willing to work in the new company. Only later, when the troupe had already arrived in Riga, Buke’s name finally was brought up for consideration. When Buke was eventually offered the position of conductor in the newly organized Latvian Opera, without lengthy consideration he liquidated his affairs in Moscow and drove south to return to Riga via Odessa. But fate had decided otherwise - Buke never reached Riga.

As a terrible typhus epidemic raged in the south of Russia in 1919, composer Buke fell victim, and the location of his grave is now unknown to anyone. The list of Buke’s compositions was substantial. Among them were 2 ballets, numerous symphonic works, as well as compositions for piano, violin, cello and solo voice. Some of these compositions were printed in Buke’s earlier professional years with Jürgenson, others after his death in Moscow by a state music publishing house. Most of his compositions remained in manuscript and their fate is unknown. It would be high time to find and gather Buke’s compositions so that they would begin to be picked up in our concert programs.

And, here is a Google-translated Russian Wiki entry. You'll note that his name is given only in Russian and no mention is made of his Latvian heritage, other than acknowledging his place of birth as Rīga, Latvia's capital. He did spend most of his life in Czarist Russia, of which Latvia was a part until the 1917 Revolution, but it's typical of most Russian sources not to acknowledge other nationalities within their pre-1917 or Soviet-era borders. You'll also notice some conflicting dates and details, some of which can probably be attributed to faulty recollection by the previous article's author, and new information on his passing having come to light since then.

Eugene Ivanovich Bukke (aka Eigen Yanovich Bukke; October 26 [O.S. November 7] 1877, Riga, Riga Governorate, Russian Empire – February 16, 1920, Kursk, Kursk Governorate, RSFSR) was a Russian composer, musician, conductor, choirmaster and teacher. Founder of the Kursk Symphony Orchestra.

Biography
He was born on 26 October (7 November) 1877 in Riga. From 1892 to 1899 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory; in 1892-1899 in the violin class of Vasily Salin and in the bassoon class of Wilhelm Christel, in 1896-1897 in the class of composition and counterpoint with Sergey Taneyev.

After graduation, he worked as a conductor of a symphony orchestra at opera productions and concerts. He was engaged in teaching and composing activities. On March 2, 1903, he made his debut with an overture to the drama The Northern Heroes by Henrik Ibsen. The premiere, at which he himself conducted the orchestra, took place at the Moscow Conservatory. Next, he wrote two operas: Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich based on the play of the same name by Alexey Tolstoy and Destiny based on the drama The Miller and His Child by Ernst Raupach. At the same time, Bukke wrote a number of symphonic and chamber works.
In the 1900s he worked as a conductor and choirmaster at the Zimin Opera House in Moscow. In 1915, he participated in the production of Mikhail Sokolovsky's comic opera The Miller is a Sorcerer, Deceiver and Matchmaker. In 1917 he wrote the music for the film Father Sergius, directed by Yakov Protazanov.
In 1918, together with his family (he was married to the singer K. A. Andreeva-Bukka) he moved to Kursk. He founded and conducted the Kursk Symphony Orchestra. He led several musical circles for the proletariat. He presented in Gubnarpros a plan for the creation of a people's conservatory and a folk music academy. He founded a choir in Kursk and gave solo piano concerts.
When Kursk came under the control of the White Guard army, he evacuated with his family from the city. After the return of Kursk under the control of the Red Army, the choir and symphony orchestra resumed their work. He died suddenly of typhus on February 16, 1920 and was buried in one of the city's cholera cemeteries.

Works
•   opera Destiny (1904; based on the drama The Miller and His Child by Ernst Raupach, premiered at the Solodovnikov Theatre in Moscow)
•   opera in 2 acts Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1907)
•   symphony for orchestra (1906; arranged for piano)
•   symphonic poem Apollo and Daphne
•   overture to the drama The Northern Heroes by Henrik Ibsen (1903)
•   2 canons
•   romance for violin and orchestra
•   three pieces for piano
•   romances on poems by Percy Shelley
•   Scottish Song (for baritone and orchestra / piano)
•   What a Great Guy (duet for tenor and baritone with orchestra/piano)


I'll leave it to Christopher to follow up with links to a couple of existing brief recordings and additional comments!