Seeing great importance in widening the trombone repertoire and keeping it up to date, he not only uses the best foreign pieces but also maintains a tireless search for new material, from classical foreign, Russian and Soviet sources, suitable for arrangement.
He has made the following arrangements for trombone and piano: Grieg, Elegy; Rachmaninov, Elegy; J.S. Bach, Siciliana; Handel, Gigue; Vivaldi, Concerto for 2 Violins and Orchestra, first movement; Shostakovich, Three Preludes and the Romance from the film The Gadfly.
Also, for brass quintet: Tchaikovsky, Elegy; Shostakovich, Prelude and Fugue and Prelude. It is no coincidence that Venglovskiy should write brass quintet arrangements, as he has for several years been a permanent member of a splendid quintet (with V. Malkov, Y. Bol'shiyanov, V. Buyanovskiy and V. Galuzin) which has given interesting concerts in various Leningrad halls.
As well as playing in the quintet, Venglovskiy is also the leader of an excellent and busy trombone quartet, playing works by Beethoven, Bozza, Dondeyne, Serocki, Tomasi, Falla, Kladnitskiy, Boyarskiy and Okunev. The last three of these composers wrote their pieces specially for this quartet, whose skill can be heard to advantage on two recent recordings.
This account of Venglovskiy’s musical activities is all the more impressive if one adds radio and television recordings as well as discs, of which he has now made eight. It would be impossible to list all the composers whose works Venglovskiy has played, they are so numerous.
Some works have been specially written for this outstanding musician, and dedicated to him: the Concertino by Uspenskiy, the Scherzo and Adagio by Okunev, and pieces by Buyanovskiy, Angelov, Yel'cheva, etc.
In addition to his heavy commitments as a performer Venglovskiy is also involved, as a professor at the Leningrad Conservatoire, in passing on his wealth of experience to young people. His achievements in teaching are just as great as in playing.
This is confirmed by the success enjoyed by his students, of whom there have been many over a quarter of a century. Four of his former students work at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow: A. Skobelev, who was also the winner of the Geneva international competition in 1973; A. Morozov, V. Golikov and V. Pachkayev.
At the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre in Leningrad: N. Novikov, V. Maslov, A. Shutov and N. Timofeyev; R. Krasner at the Malyy Opera and Ballet Theatre in Leningrad; Y. Bryndin at the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theatre; S. Ivanov at the Minsk Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre, etc.
Many of Venglovskiy’s former students also now teach, passing on their teacher's wealth of experience. Amongst these are A. Skobelev at the Moscow Conservatoire, T. Adamavichus at the Lithuanian State Conservatoire, the present author at the Odessa State Conservatoire, etc.
Venglovskiy's success as a performer and teacher is due to his selfless and enthusiastic devotion to his instrument, which he communicates to his students, and the object of his efforts is thus bound to prosper and develop.
A modest and responsive person, he is always ready, despite his heavy workload, to answer any question and help anyone he can. This can be seen from the many contacts he has at home and abroad and from the high esteem in which he is held by the people with whom he maintains these contacts.
This, then, is a brief and incomplete portrait of a great musician and teacher, the international competition prizewinner, Professor Viktor Venglovskiy, a model of selfless devotion to art.