Aleksandr Popov (born 1957) is a Saint-Petersburg composer, author of simphony creations, chamber instrumental and vocal music. In his creations Aleksandr Popov pays special attention to the relations between the human and time in different meanings of these words, one meaning being direct experience of the march of time, its concentration and exhaustion, speeding up and slowing down, in other words, ultiimate relations of time and infinity, the other meaning being interrelation of the contemporary individual to the music and general cultural tradition. The selection of traditions addressed to by the composer is rather diversified, from European medieval times and Renaissance to meditative music of the East, to Armenian sacred music. Among the major creations of Popov are Requiem for lead singers, string company, prepared pianoforte and metronome, ''Passioin'' concert for waldhorns, organ and percussion, ''Theory of affects'' for chamber orchestra, Sinfonia da camera dedicated to the m emory of Freskobaldi, Concert for flute with orchestra, Sinfonia Brevis for a grand orchestra, chamber sonata ''W'' for contratenor and octet based on the Slavic folklore text about the Judgement Day, ''Utopia'', concert for the violin and company. A. Popov is the winner of the ''The International Tribune of the Composers'' award (Paris, 1995), author of music to silent movies, such as ''The Earth'' (directed by Aleksandr Dovzhenko) and ''Johan'' (directed by Moris Stiller), composed at request from the German ZDF/ARTE channel, and to movies directed by Viktor Kosakovskiy.
Eight hokku (from the Japanese classic poetry) for soprano, pianoforte and bells have been created in1981, and have been initially performed by soprano Tatyana Melentyeva and pianist Oleg Malov on the ''Music spring in Sanit-Petersburg'' music festival on April 21, 1992. Thereafter the cycle has been performed repeatedly, by Nelly Li, Elena Igotti (Antonenko), to name a few. Fragments of this creation have been