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Raphael Manzhukh — Ashdod Harbor
Magazine
Boris Turchinsky
The fifth issue of the Israeli magazine of fiction and literary journalism, Ashdod Harbor, has
been published.
My thanks to its editors: Project Director Leonid Nuzbrokh and Editor-in-Chief Asya
Teplovodskaya.
I am pleased that this issue also contains my essay about a wonderful man — military conductor,
teacher, and mentor Raphael Moiseyevich Manzhukh.
(Excerpt from the essay)
“What Could Be More Important...”
(On the 98th anniversary of his birth)
His journey into music began in Ashgabat. Every evening, little Raphael and his brothers would
run to the park to listen to the orchestra in which their father played as a part-time musician. The
orchestra musicians helped the curious boys take their first steps into the fundamentals of
musical performance.
Both in Ashgabat and in Tambov, the brothers were fortunate to have excellent mentors. In
Tambov, their father sent his sons to music school and later to the music college, whose director
was Mark Naumovich Reentovich, one of four musician brothers whose surname was known
throughout the country. One of the brothers, the renowned Yuli Reentovich, headed the famous
Bolshoi Theatre violin ensemble for many years.
1948–1952 were the years of Raphael Moiseyevich;s studies at the Military Conducting Faculty
of the Moscow State Conservatory: orchestration with Professor E. P. Makarov, a course in wind
instruments with Professor A. M. Sedrakyаn, and conducting with V. Dubrovsky.
Lieutenant Colonel Kh. M. Khakhanyan, one of the finest conductors of the Soviet Army;s
Military Band Service, taught the institute;s students the particular techniques and methods of
working with a musical ensemble when performing anthems, marches, and military songs.
In 1952, young Lieutenant Manzhukh was assigned to the Baltic Military District, to a small
garrison in the Kaliningrad region. In 1964, together with his military unit, he was transferred to
the Northern Group of Forces in Poland. In 1969, he became the military conductor of the
Zhytomyr Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile School.

Vasily Petrovich Matveychuk, Professor at the Moscow State Institute of Culture, Honored
Cultural Worker of the Russian Federation and Candidate of Arts, recalls:
In my professional career, Raphael Moiseyevich Manzhukh played a major — or, more
precisely, decisive — role. For me, he was and remains a model of intelligence, tact, kindness,
and professionalism.
I entered music college without adequate preparation, and my first orchestral experience came in
the student orchestra. But I acquired my fundamental skills in orchestral playing in the military
school;s orchestra under Manzhukh;s direction. Your father, Boris — Roman Iosifovich, the
principal French horn player — also deserves considerable credit for this. He was an experienced
orchestral musician and helped me in every possible way.
It was precisely in the military school;s orchestra that I realized I was acquiring the ensemble-
playing experience essential to a musician.
Playing in that army ensemble, I truly fell in love with wind music. I also liked the army, and it
was then that I decided I would become a military conductor. At first, Raphael Moiseyevich tried
to dissuade me. He saw me as a soloist in a symphony orchestra and was pleased with my
success on the French horn.
In 1972, a district competition for wind-instrument performers of the Carpathian Military District
was held in Lviv, and Manzhukh gave me the honor of representing our orchestra. I became a
diploma winner in the competition. By the way, our fellow student Vladik Yankovsky also
performed there with me. He won first place in the clarinet category and became a laureate.
(I also participated in this competition as a musician in the orchestra of the Carpathian Military
District headquarters and became a diploma winner — B.T.)
By the standards of those times — and, I think, even by today;s standards — we had a very good
military orchestra. The level of its performance is evident simply from mentioning some of the
extremely demanding works that were performed at our concerts: N. Rimsky-Korsakov;s
variations on M. Glinka;s romance “What, Young Beauty” for oboe and wind orchestra (soloist
A. Shoromko); B. Diev;s overture “Native Land”; dances from M. Glinka;s opera Ivan Susanin;
F. Schubert;s “Unfinished Symphony”; G. Handel;s “Passacaglia”; A. Dvo;;k;s “Slavonic
Dances”...
Manzhukh was an excellent orchestrator and personally arranged many works for our orchestra.
His arrangements always sounded professional, convincing, and full-bodied! Let us not forget
that although our orchestra was a professional ensemble, it was nevertheless a wind orchestra...
Three years with this ensemble gave me the opportunity to become thoroughly familiar with the
repertoire of the wind orchestra. At certain moments in my life, I still find myself remembering
those years and that ensemble in Zhytomyr. And I remember not only the music. I remember my
mentors, among them the orchestra;s senior sergeant, Ivan Grigorievich Krasutsky; the
clarinetists Yuzik Portnoy and Sasha Fesyuk; the oboist Sasha Shoromko; and many other

fellows. It was a friendly ensemble, and, of course, the orchestra conductor deserves much of the
credit for that. He was the one who set the tone!
I remember how Raphael Moiseyevich worked with the orchestra and how he conducted himself
during rehearsals... How attentive and patient he was, and how he never built a “wall” between
himself and the musicians. How much he loved the members of the orchestra and how much he
cared for them.
He was a very kind man and was always ready to help with any matter.
He agreed to take my younger brother, Peter, into the orchestra as a student, even though there
were no vacancies at the time. (The orchestra could have only ten student trainees.) Later, after
receiving a good musical education, Petya was able to enter the Odessa Conservatory and
graduate from it.
We remember you, dear Raphael Moiseyevich! What could be more important than that...
May the memory of the Maestro of wind music, conductor, teacher, and mentor be a
blessing.

Boris Turchinsky
Music Writer and Journalist
August 2025