Albin Repnikov

Russian composer. Repnikov was born on December 29th 1932 in the Perm Region and died on November 6th, 2006. In 1953 he finished his studies at the Music School in Irkutsk and in 1958 he graduated from the conservatorium of Leningrad, at the theoretical composition faculty. In 1947 - 1949 and in 1951 - 1952 he was accompanist in a club of accordeonists in the Amur Region and Irkutsk. In 1959 he became teacher in the children accordeon music school of the Lenin District in Leningrad. From 1960 to 1970 he was teacher in the accordeon class at the Leningrad Institute of Culture. From 1971 to 1974 he was teacher on bayan, accordeon and instrumentation course at the Leningrad Music School M.P. Mussorgsky. Since 1974 he was lecturer composition. From 1982 he was associate professor at the Leningrad Conservatory in Petrozavodsk. But Repnikov was not only a teacher, from 1960 to 1962 he was member of a bayan trio, with Matyushkavym D. and Balandin A. in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Leningrad Unions. He led a methodical work (the handbook "A short course of instrumentation for bayan and accordeon", he presented papers at conferences in different pedagogical cities. He trained more than one houndred students, winners of various competitions, among them also the winner of the All-Union Competition for young composers V. Panchenko, in Moscow 1980.Repnikow was the creator of a large amount of concertos, sonatas and suites for bayan. His pieces are generally considered classics in the repertoire of accordeonists and bayanists around the world. Capriccio, which he composed in 1960, is probably his best known solo-composition. The piece is folk-inspired and opens with a melancholic introduction, followed by a scherzo in changing time signatures. The piece has southern flavour and could be seen as a homage to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Spanish Capriccio" or Tchaikowski's "Capriccio Italienne", bringing out the orchestral colours of the bayan.