“Novorossiysk Chimes” for Symphony Orchestra

“Novorossiysk Chimes” (Flame of Eternal Glory)
for Symphony Orchestra

     Shostakovich wrote the short orchestral piece ‘Novorossiysk Chimes’ in 1960.
     The ‘Chimes’ was based on the melody from one of the three versions of the USSR national anthem (the first 12 bars), which Shostakovich composed in 1943 for a state competition. The piece was recorded by the Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Television conducted by Arvīds Jansons and sent to Novorossiysk. The ceremonial presentation of the renovated monument playing the melody of the ‘Chimes’ was held on 27 September.
     The first concert performance of the ‘Novorossiysk Chimes’ was held on 16 October 1960 in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
     The ‘Novorossiysk Chimes’ was first published in a piano arrangement in the magazine Muzykalnaya zhizn’ (No. 22, December 1960, Supplement). The score was first published in Volume 11 of Shostakovich’s Collected Works, in 42 vols. (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1984).15 The choral arrangement of the piece by Genrikh Kovalev, the words to which were written by Kira Alemasova, the concert master of the choral conducting department at the Moscow Conservatory, became popular. This version was published in several collections, in 1966, 1978 and 1984, and later reproduced in Volume 34 of Shostakovich’s Collected Works (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1985). The ‘Novorossiysk Chimes’ was also arranged for different instruments: by Yevgeni Makarov for wind orchestra (Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers, Moscow, 1970), by Sergey Bolotin for trumpet and piano (Muzyka Publishers, Leningrad, 1977), by Ivan Dmitrenko for orchestra of accordions (Muzyka Publishers, Leningrad, 1983), and by Vyacheslav Rozanov for ensemble of bayans (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1964).
     The first recording of the composition by the Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio conducted by Arvīds Jansons was put out on record in 1961. Both it and the recording of the choral arrangement with verses by Kira Alemasova, made by the Aleksandrov Red Banner Song and Dance Ensemble in 1966, were republished more than once. As for foreign performers, the ‘Novorossiysk Chimes’ was recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Enrique Bátiz (1990) and Vladimir Ashkenazy (1992), as well as by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the baton of Teodor Kuchar (2004).