Vladimir Martynov studied piano as a child. Gaining an interest in composition, he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory where he studied piano under Mikhail Mezhlumov and composition under Nikolai Sidelnikov, graduating in 1971. He studied medieval Russian and European music, as well as religious musical history and musicology. In the late 1970s, he began studying early Russian religious chant, as well as Renaissance music of such composers as Machaut, Gabrieli, Isaac, Dufay, and Dunstable, publishing editions of their music. He is now known as a serious ethnomusicologist, specializing in the music of the Caucasian peoples, Tajikistan, and other ethnic groups in Russia. In 2009, the London Philharmonic gave the world premiere of his opera Vita Nuova. Martynov’s composition The Beatitudes, as performed by Kronos Quartet, featured in La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
About The Beatitudes, David Harrington writes:
“This is a re-scoring of a work for choir that I heard on a CD that Andrey Kotov, the conductor of the Sirin Choir in Moscow, gave each member of Kronos earlier this year. I went back to my hotel room and listened to the whole CD, which was typical Russian liturgical music, until the last track, which was this astonishing piece by Vladimir Martynov, who had already written two works for Kronos. I had been looking for something sublime for Awakening, a concert program we put together as a musical meditation for the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and late that night in Moscow I knew that I had heard it. When I got back to San Francisco, I was in touch with Vladimir, who agreed to create a version of The Beatitudes for pre-recorded quartet and live quartet specifically for that performance. The Beatitudes are truly a rare moment of perfection.”
Recorded track performed by Kronos and produced by Kronos and Scott Fraser.
Vladimir Martynov’s The Beatitudes was rescored for the Kronos Quartet. Kronos’ recording appears on the Nonesuch release Music of Vladimir Martynov, which includes several of the composer's works commissioned for Kronos.
