Alexei Aigui Explained

Alexei Aigui
Native Name Lang:Айги Алексей Геннадьевич
Birth Date:1971 7, df=yes
Origin:Russia
Genre:minimalist music
Occupation:musician, composer
Instrument:violin
Years Active:1994–present
Label:SoLyd, Music Box, Lakeshore, Leo Records
Current Member Of:4'33" Ensemble

Aleksey Aygi (stylized as Alexei Aigui, born 11 July 1971) is a Russian composer, violinist, and leader of the 4'33" Ensemble.[1]

Biography and career

Aigui is ethnically Chuvash and the son of Chuvash national poet Gennadiy Aygi.[2]

A graduate of Moscow's State Music and Pedagogical Institute,[3] Aigui's work has been noted for its minimalist aesthetics. This investment in minimalism led Aigui to name his band after the John Cage composition 4′33″, the score for which instructs performers to refrain from playing their instruments. In 1994, Aigui debuted his 4'33" Ensemble at the Moscow International Festival of Modern Music,[4] with another early performance taking place at the 1996 "European Days in Samara" festival.

Aigui is a prolific composer who has scored dozens of films and television programs, including Country of the Deaf, which received the Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Score;[5] Wild Field, which received a Nika Award,[6] Golden Eagle Award,[7] and Kinotavr Award for Best Music, as well as the White Elephant Award for Best Composer; and the widely-acclaimed I Am Not Your Negro, which was nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score.[8]

Discography

Leader or co-leader

Release year Title Label Notes
2001Musique CyrilliqueSoLydwith Pierre Bastien
2002Aigui & Bonnen Play the Music of Jimi Hendrix: Up From The SkiesSoLydwith Dietmar Bonnen
2003Aigui & Bonnen Play The Music Of Frank Zappa: Black WaterSoLydwith Dietmar Bonnen
2008The CloserSoLydsolo
2009Aigui & Bonnen Play the Music of Kurt Weill: NightshiftSoLydwith Dietmar Bonnen

with Ensemble 4'33"

Release year Title Label Notes
1997Sisters Grimm TalesSoLyd Recordsft. the NeTe
1997FallsLong Arms Records
1998Hearts (Сердца)SoLyd
1999TaxidermySoLyd
1999One Second Hand (Music For Kinetic Theatre)SoLyd
2001EquusSoLyd
2002Happiness, Fame And FortuneSoLyd
2003MixSoLydft. Mina Agossi
2005Live @ LoftSoLyd
2012Hard DiscSoLyd
2016Sergey Kuryokhin: The Spirit LivesLeo Records

Selected filmography

Release year Film Soundtrack Label Awards
1998Country of the Deaf (soundtrack: Les Silencieuses)Sergent Major RecordingGolden Aries Award for best score; Nika Award nominee
1998Retro vtroyom
1998Chastnye kroniki. Monolog
2000Kamenskaya: Chuzhaya maska
2002The Lover[9] Golden Aries nominee; Nika nominee
2004My Step Brother Frankenstein
2004Kvartirka (TV series)
2004Mars
2004Ragin
2005The Fall of the Empire (TV series)
2005The Wedding ChestGolden Aries nominee
2006Charell
2006Mans virs Andrejs Saharovs
2006Made in Paris (Je pense à vous)
2007Sishik Poutilin (TV series)
2008The Great Alibi[10]
2008Snezhnyy angel
2008Wild FieldMusic Box RecordsGolden Eagle, Nika, and Kinotavr Awards for Best Music; White Elephant Award for Best Composer
2008Ochen russkiy detektiv
2009L'école du pouvoir
2009Can't Say No (Je ne dis pas non)
2009Moloch Tropical
2011Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Le petit poucet)
2012The HordeSoLyd Records
2012Rondo
2012Looking for Hortense[11]
2014Vychislitel
2015OrleanNika Nominee; White Elephant for Best Composer
2015V dalyokom sorok pyatom... Vstrechi na ElbeNika for Best Music
2015Krasnaya koroleva (TV series)
2016I Am Not Your NegroMusic Box Records / Lakeshore RecordsCinema Eye Honors Award Nominee
2016Mata Hari (TV series)APKiT nominee for Best Music in a TV Movie/Series
2017The Young Karl Marx
2017André
2017Doktor Rikhter (TV series)
2017Our Little Secret
2018Assia
2019Good as New
2019The Truth (La vérité)Music Box Records

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alexei Aigui on Scoring the Breakthrough Documentary I am Not Your Negro . Score It Magazine . 6 January 2021 . 24 February 2017.
  2. Web site: France . Peter . Gennady Aygi: Avant garde Russian poet and friend of Pasternak, his career blossomed with the advent of perestroika . The Guardian . 6 January 2021 . 24 February 2006.
  3. Web site: Concert-presentation at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russia . European Foundation for Support of Culture . 6 January 2021.
  4. Web site: The Jubilee Neoclassism of Alexei Aygi . Erarta Museum . 6 January 2021 . 17 August 2014.
  5. Web site: 1998 . KINOPRESSA . 6 January 2021.
  6. Web site: Hercules . Olia . Russian musical Hipsters scoops best film at Nika Awards . Screen International . 6 January 2021 . 6 April 2009.
  7. Web site: Holdsworth . Nick . 'Wild Field' wins Russian Eagle . Variety . 6 January 2021 . 26 January 2009.
  8. Web site: Erbland . Kate . Cinema Eye Honors 2017 Winners List . IndieWire . 6 January 2021 . 11 January 2017.
  9. Web site: Cockrell . Eddie . The Lover . Variety . 6 January 2021 . 1 October 2002.
  10. Web site: Mintzer . Jordan . The Great Alibi . Variety . 6 January 2021 . 11 May 2008.
  11. Web site: van Hoeij . Boyd . Cherchez Hortense . Variety . 6 January 2021 . 31 August 2012.