Soviet Russia, You Did Something Right

Seriously. I don't understand how people are not heralding Kabalevsky as a composer of genius. I've been listening to his other music this week, and it's really wonderful. There's very little recorded music of his that I can find, and it's unfortunate. He wrote vocal orchestral works called "Revenger of the People" and "A Letter to the 30th Century" and "Poem of Struggle." I can't find recordings anywhere. I can't even find scores anywhere. It is immensely frustrating. *But* I have been able to find a few symphonies. His second symphony is my favorite of the few that I've found. It sounds like a really well-done film score. There's some great imagery, and the instrumentation is fantastic (in my humble opinion).

His efforts to bring music-making to children aren't recognized in the way that they should be. I played some of his children's pieces when I was in high school, and they are so charming. Intermediate level literature so often falls into this trite, banal rut. Like children are incapable of appreciating any sort of sophisticated musical character. I think it's ridiculous, and I love that Kabalevsky took children and pedagogy seriously.

I kind of want to write a really amazing biography on Kabalevsky. I can't find a single book on Kabalevsky or his music. I can't even find a poorly written book, much less a well-written book. But I feel that to do the proper research, I would really have to learn Russian. The real question is, do I love Kabalevsky enough to learn Russian? Or rather, do I love Kabalevsky enough to deal with the Cyrillic alphabet?