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Gavriil Nikolayevich Popov (Russian: Гаврии́л Никола́евич Попо́в; 12 September 1904 – 17 February 1972) was a Soviet composer.
Popov studied at the Leningrad Conservatory from 1922 until 1930 with Leonid Vladimirovich Nikolayev, Vladimir Shcherbachov, and Maximilian Steinberg. He was considered to have the raw talent of his slightly younger contemporary Dmitri Shostakovich.[1]
His early works, in particular the Septet (or Chamber Symphony) (Op. 2, 1927) for flute, trumpet, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello and bass, and his Symphony No. 1 (Op. 7) are impressively powerful and forward-looking. The symphony had its premiere by the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1935 and was immediately banned by a local censor; Popov was accused of formalism, a terrible stigma at the time.[1] Together with Shostakovich, Popov successfully appealed the ban in Moscow,[1] but nevertheless the symphony was not performed again until 1972. The influence of Popov's first symphony on Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 is apparent.[1]
Following his own censorship episode and the anonymous denouncing of Shostakovich in 1936, Popov began writing in a more conservative idiom in order to avoid further charges of formalism. Despite his alcoholism, Popov produced many works for orchestra, including six completed symphonies. Many of his compositions, written under the strictures of the Soviet system, are paeans to Soviet life and Communist heroes as prescribed by state authority. Examples include his Symphony No. 4 subtitled "Honor of the Motherland," and a poem-cantata titled "Honor to our Party." In spite of this, the few works which have been recorded bear witness to an almost intact creative strength. Recent research claims that the progressive aesthetical approach of his early years has been transformed and secretly kept in a politically more accessible, yet maintaining a highly socio-critical music language.[2] His melodic and instrumental invention was sharp, deeply rooted in Russian folk music. Even pieces adapted from propagandist movies, such as his Symphony No. 2, recorded by Hermann Abendroth (Urania LP), can be profoundly stirring. His sense of the orchestra, brilliant and buoyant, his grasp of large formal patterns, as found in the huge Symphony No. 3 for large string orchestra, are equally outstanding. Symphony No. 6 "Festive" betrays a kind of convulsive and disturbing vigor.[3] Popov also wrote several film scores. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.
