A Geometer of Sound Crystals: A Book on Philip Herschkowitz

"WHO was Philip Herschkowitz? He was a composer - who had virtually no performances of his work, and a teacher - who claimed 'I do not have any pupils' (p. 1) And if fellow composer and sometime pupil Dmitri Smirnov presents these riddles as very much a part of Herschkowitz persona, he also leaves us in no doubt of the seriousness of intent lying behind them..." H. R. Collin Rice, Herdford College, Oxford This book is an attempt to provide a detailed account of Philipp Herschkowitz (1906-89) a Rumanian-born composer and music theorist who studied in Vienna with Berg and Webern but who spent almost half a century (1940 to 1987) in the Soviet Union. His profound teaching was highly influential for a few generations of Russian musicians, including leading figures of the so-called 'Underground division', favouring the changes of the cultural climate in that country.