Moscow‑based composer, musical public figure, and teacher.
He was born on 26 April 1937 in Tashkent.
In 1954 he graduated from Children’s Music School No. 1 of Moscow’s Leninsky District (now the R. M. Glière Children’s Music School) in bassoon (teacher A. A. Rosenberg). In 1968 he graduated from the Gnesin State Music and Pedagogical Institute (now the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music) in composition and instrumentation under O. K. Eiges.
Since 1968 he has taught in the Department of Composition and Instrumentation, initially giving classes in special analysis, polyphony, score reading, and instrumentation, and later becoming one of the leading professors of the composition and instrumentation class.
His students include composers, musicologists, editors, teachers of music‑theoretical disciplines, performers, and philharmonic lecturers.
The music of G. V. Chernov is widely known in Russia and in many other countries. His works have been performed repeatedly at the international festivals «Moscow Autumn» and «Leningrad Spring»; at the First International Wind Music Festival in Le Havre, France (1990); in the USA, Germany, Bulgaria, Spain (International Festival «Mano a Mano» in Buñol and Xàtiva, 2013), Hungary, the Czech Republic, Iraq, Poland, the Netherlands, the former Yugoslavia, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
Chernov’s works are marked by contemporaneity and high craftsmanship, striking and contrasting musical ideas, a grounding in Russian classical and folk traditions, clarity of form, dynamic development, epic sweep, virtuoso command of orchestral resources, and a constant search for new colours in sound.
Four main areas can be distinguished in his creative output.
Symphonic music:
- Symphony No. 3 for string orchestra;
- Symphony No. 5 «To the Motherland»;
- Symphony‑Capriccio on Arab Themes;
- Eastern Poem and Dance;
- Romantic Poem‑Waltz;
- Concerto for Cello and Orchestra;
- Symphony‑Concerto for Violin and Symphony Orchestra;
- Eastern Fantasy «In Memory of N. A. Rimsky‑Korsakov» for Clarinet and Symphony Orchestra;
- Epic Oratorio «Forty‑First to Forty‑Fifth» for mezzo‑soprano, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra to texts by V. Tatarinov;
- Festive Cantata‑Ode «To the New Millennium» for choir and symphony orchestra to texts by I. Chernyaeva;
- Elegiac Poem for string orchestra;
- Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra;
- Symphony No. 7 «Homage to A. P. Borodin» for large symphony orchestra;
- Barcarolle «Morning of Love» for two clarinets and string orchestra (2017).
Works for wind orchestra:
- Symphony No. 1 «Great Rus’»;
- Russian Suite;
- Eastern Poem and Dance (composer’s version for wind orchestra);
- Scherzo for Bassoon and Orchestra;
- Eastern Fantasy for Clarinet and Wind Orchestra;
- Piece «Chastushka»;
- Suite No. 2 «Classical»;
- Symphony No. 6‑bis «On Russian Themes» (composer’s version for wind orchestra);
- Symphony No. 5‑bis «To the Motherland» (arranged for Symphony Band).
Works for orchestra of Russian folk instruments:
- Symphony No. 2;
- Symphony No. 4 «Lyric»;
- Symphony No. 6 («On Russian Themes»);
- Elegiac Poem for string folk instruments;
- Russian Suite;
- Concerto for Bayan Orchestra and Percussion;
- Polyphonic Symphonietta for Bayan Orchestra and Percussion;
- Scherzo‑Toccata for Bayan Orchestra and Percussion (2015–2016).
Chamber‑instrumental, vocal, and choral music:
- Sonata for Piano;
- String Quartet;
- Two concert pieces for string trio;
- Poetic Pictures for Piano;
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano;
- Concert pieces for Piano;
- Poem on a Theme by Paul Dvoirin;
- Scherzo for Bassoon and Piano;
- Pieces for Bayan;
- Romances;
- Unaccompanied choral works;
- Barcarolle «Morning of Love» for two clarinets and piano, among others.
A number of Chernov’s works have been published in Russia and the USA, recorded on LPs, and broadcast on radio and television, and have received many reviews in the press.
In 2007 the Moscow publishing house Kompozitor issued a book titled Music Is Our Celebration, dedicated to the composer’s seventieth birthday.
Speaking of one of his most recent works, Symphony No. 7 «Homage to A. P. Borodin» (premiered at his jubilee concert at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in November 2017), Gennady Vladimirovich writes: «Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin is a great and genius creator. I dedicate this new one‑movement Symphony No. 7 for symphony orchestra to him, because I feel a bond of blood with this great man: I too was a chemist before becoming a composer. He deeply believed that the heroic strength and spirit of our forebears live on, that the Russian people are great and powerful and therefore invincible. This faith he passed on to us, his successors. Great words. I bow before his genius music and his scientific discoveries: he is a true hero of Russian music and science».
By Presidential Decree of 11 June 2003 he was awarded the honorary title Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 2012 he received the Gold Medal of the Moscow Union of Composers on the occasion of his seventy‑fifth birthday.
