Valery Alexandrovich Gavrilin was one of the brightest stars within Russian music of the second half of the 20th century. His compositional style is immediately identifiable: he displays individualist creative aesthetics, and his compositions are amazingly beautiful, winningly appealing, and full of bright ethnic colour.

Gavrilin was born in ancient Vologda. The austere but beautiful nature of the Russian North, and his proximity to provincial surroundings, had a serious impact on his entire creative life. At a very young age he lost his father, who joined the Second World War efforts as a volunteer and was killed in the vicinity of Leningrad in 1942. In 1950 his mother was imprisoned, and Valery found himself in a children’s home in the village ...