Russian guitarist and composer Sergei Ivanovich Rudnev was born in 1955 in Tula. In 1975 he graduated in the accordion and balalaika class of Tula’s “Dargomyzhsky” Conservatory, and while attending this school he studied guitar with A. Slavsky and P. Panin in Moscow. On completion of these studies he was transferred to the Garrison Military Orchestra, where he served as an assistant conductor and learned to play the flute, percussion instruments and harmonica and was trained in arranging for pop orchestras.
In the 80s Rudnev worked as musical director of various rock and jazz groups and accompanied various singers. Around the same time, he mastered symphonic arranging and studied composition with O. Feltsman and M. Tariverdiev. By the beginning of the 80s Rudnev had already written more than a hundred compositions for classical guitar and had begin a career as a concert guitarist.
In 2015 Sergei Rudnev was named a Russian ‘National Treasure’, and numerous publications on his life and work hail Rudnev as ‘the soul’ of Russian guitar, a legend, a multi-instrumentalist and one-of-a-kind researcher. 2018 saw the publication of Russian Guitar Composers of the 19th Century, in which music written for Russia’s native seven-string guitar was arranged for classical guitar for the first time and thereby made accessible to the guitar community of the entire world.
Rudnev’s compositions are played literally all over the world by both Russian and Western musicians, and the success of his music is now comparable to that of classical guitar luminaries such as H. Villa-Lobos, A. Barrios and F. Tárrega. His sincere and boundless love of Russian culture, deep knowledge of the developmental history of both the classical and the seven-string guitar and compositional innovation in a varied range of musical styles (from folk to jazz) have all contributed to Rudnev’s unique place in the guitar pantheon.
Other information:
- Recorded January–March 2021 in Kazan, Tula, Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia
- Booklet in English contains notes on the composer and works by performer and album producer Aynur Begutov, a statement from the composer, and biographies of the four other guitarists
- This programme of Sergei Rudnev’s music includes no less than 35 world-premiere recordings
- Russian guitarist and composer Sergei Ivanovich Rudnev was born in 1955 in Tula (Russia). In 1975 he graduated from the Tula Musical College in accordion and balalajka. Simultaneously with these studies he took guitar lessons from the famous musicians A. Slavsky and P. Panin in Moscow. In 1975 he entered the Higher Artillery School in Tula from which he was later transferred to the Garrison Military Orchestra as an assistant conductor. There he learned to play the flute, percussion instruments, harmonica and was trained in the principals of arrangement for pop orchestras.
- In the 80’s Rudnev worked as a musical director of various rock and jazz groups such as ‘Russians’, ‘Express’, ‘Young Voices’, ‘Slides’. At the same time he mastered the fundamentals of arrangements for symphony orchestras and took lessons in composition from Oscar Feltsman and Mikael Tariverdiev. By the beginning of the 80’s Rudnev became a concert guitarist, building a highly successful career, in Russia and internationally. In 1992 Vladimir Spivakov had Rudnev invited to participate in the Music Festival in Colmar (France), where Sergei had the honor to perform on the same stage with the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He plays a Russian seven-string guitar and published his own methodological guide known as ‘Russian Style of Playing the Classical Guitar’.
- Rudnev’s music is drenched in the folklore and tradition of Russia, assimilating all currents styles of the 20-th century including jazz and pop. This 3-CD set presents his unique works, played by Russian guitarists Ravshan Mamedkuliev, Dimitri Illarionov, Aynur Bergutov, Vladimir Mityakov and Sergei Rudnev himself.
