With this portrait the Moscow musicologist traces the career of Rodion Shchedrin from his days as a chorister to international fame as a composer. While the main emphasis is on analysis of his works of the 1980s and 1990s, Cholopova also considers Shchedrin’s achievements as a pianist, as president of the Russian Federation of Composers, as a politician and as a human being. A picture emerges of a versatile composer who enjoys experimentation and yet who always remembers the needs of the listener in the second half of the 20th Century.

Vorwort - Vorbemerkung - Durch das Prisma der Gegenwart. Die Ästhetik Rodion Shchedrins - Charakter ist Schicksal. Die ersten fünfzig Jahre - Partitur, Klaviatur und die Versuchungen der Politik. Horizonte des Werks der achtziger Jahre - Der russische Ausländer. Meridiane der neunziger Jahre - Die Verkörperung des Erfolgs. Anstelle eines Schlussworts - Annotationen Rodion Shchedrins zu seinen Werken für CDs und Konzertprogramme - Die wichtigsten musikalischen Werke Rodion Shchedrins - Die wichtigsten Schriften Rodion Shchedrins - Grundlegende Literatur über Rodion Shchedrin - Personenregister - Bildnachweis