Aristotelis Koundouroff

Who was Aristotelis Koundouroff?

Aristotelis Koundouroff was a Greek composer of the Modern Era. He attended the conservatories of Tbilisi and Moscow, studying with Ippolitov-Ivanov, Glière and Vasilenko. He became head of Ippolitov-Ivanov's composition studio in Moscow. In 1930 he settled in Greece and he taught musical theory at the Piraeus League Conservatory and Woldemar Freeman's Musical Lycee. He conducting the Nea Ionia municipal band. From 1943 until his retirement in 1964 he was head of the music library and sound archives of Athens Radio.

Koundouroff is now regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures of Greek music in the period 1930 to 1960. His earlier compositions show the influence of his Russian training, and of Prokofiev's `Soviet' style. Later works, including the tone poem Orpheus and Eurydice and the Mazurka for piano, are harmonically more adventurous, inviting comparison with the more radical Russian modernists such as Skriabin and Roslavets.