Kremenliev, Boris
Kremenliev, Boris
Kremenliev, Boris, Bulgarian-American musicologist and composer; b. Razlog, May 23, 1911; d. Los Angeles, April 25, 1988. He went to the U.S. in 1929, where he studied composition with La Violette at De Paul Univ. in Chicago (B.M., 1936; M.M., 1938) and with Hanson at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. (Ph.D., 1942). He was a member of the Psychological Warfare Branch of the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. In 1947 he was appointed to the faculty of the Univ. of Calif, at Los Angeles. He publ. Bulgarian-Macedonian Folk Music (Los Angeles, 1952). Several of his compositions were imbued with Bulgarian melo-rhythms; of these, the most interesting are Pravo Horo for Orch. (Rochester, N.Y., April 18, 1940) and Bulgarian Rhapsody for Orch. (1952); he also composed various other orch. works, including Crucifixion (1952), Elegy: June 5, 1968 (1968–69), and Peasant Dance (1984); among his chamber works are 2 string quartets (1954, 1965), 2 piano sonatas (1954, 1959), Double Bass Sonata (1966–67), and Overtones for Brass (1983–84);his vocal music included choral pieces and songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire