conductor
Andrey Boreyko
<Automatically translated, will be edited>
About Sasha
These notes are like still images of memory. The main thing about them is that I write only about what I remember for sure. Without adding or embellishing anything.
We met Sasha (sorry, but for me he was and will remain Sasha) in Tallinn at the all-Union selection for the conducting competition. G. Fitelberg in Katowice.
Why he wasn’t chosen then is a mystery to me. He conducted excellently. I remember it. And not just me.
Apparently, as often happens, the jury assessed the candidates not only by their conducting skills... Competitions...
Can I call Sasha my friend? It seems to me that I can, although it all depends on what you mean by this word. We didn't grow up together, didn't go to the same school or conservatory. They lived in different cities and belonged to different conducting schools. Our first meeting in Tallinn in 1986 at the all-Union selection for the Fitelberg Competition in Poland immediately brought us closer, and since then we have communicated and seen each other, although not often, but regularly, until July 2020. We called each other back, visited each other, had meals, drank - as if without this.
Each of us went our own way. I started in the provinces, and Sasha, fortunately, had the opportunity to work in Moscow and remain visible, which led to the fact that in 1995 he had his own orchestra, the Russian Philharmonic. And the first thing he did then was to invite his conductor friends there. This says a lot, believe me. Sasha never envied anyone! This feeling, it seems to me, was completely unfamiliar to him.
Giving meant more to him than taking. At least throughout the years of our friendship, he confirmed this many times.
At the beginning of his career, Sasha conducted many and often ballets (most often by P. I. Tchaikovsky), and was a little afraid of ending up in a group of “purely ballet” conductors). There is such a caste in the conducting workshop. Many of them were and are excellent musicians, but they could not go beyond the ballet repertoire. Let's remember, for example, Yuri Fayer at the Bolshoi Theater.
But Sasha had nothing to fear. And the musicians of Covent Garden and La Scala, and other major opera houses in the world, having seen him at the controls once (even in a ballet performance) - remembered him forever.
Sasha's appointment to BT was a surprise to most. The years he spent at the head of this theater are remembered and will be remembered by everyone for whom this Main Theater of the Country had, or has at least some significance.
The new (very young) Chief Conductor had to face a huge number of problems there. Sasha did not like to go into details on this topic, but in our conversations then he often spoke about the need for a serious update of this structure. And an orchestra, and an opera troupe, and even a ballet company.
New names of conductors and directors immediately began to appear at BT, not to mention talented young people. The repertoire was updated, very rare titles appeared (for example, in 2009, the first production in Moscow of A. Berg’s opera “Wozzeck”). Sasha was not afraid to stage “The Children of Rosenthal” by Leonid Desyatnikov with a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin, who already had a reputation as the “enfant terrible” of Russian literature. Not everyone remembers now, and some don’t even know, in what atmosphere San Sanych had to work then. He survived. He was convinced of the quality of the music, and stood up for it.
Today, January 11, 2024, Alexander Vedernikov would have turned 60 years old. How strange it is to write the particle “would”... Why him?
Listening and reviewing his recordings (what a blessing that they exist!), I understand him more and more over time. His concerts and performances were always a new and fresh interpretation of even the most seemingly well-known scores to us all. Sasha had the main thing - his personal, personal vision and understanding of the opera, symphony, and instrumental concert. He knew how to convey this understanding to musicians and knew how to get from them, regardless of country and language, exactly what he needed. His interpretations could be controversial, even unexpected. Not everyone and did not always agree with him, but he knew how to convince and achieve. He knew how, with the help of his own unique conducting technique, to lead, as if by a thread, the musicians along the path he had chosen.
He loved to study. I remember well how we discussed the issue of marking scores. Sasha then said that while he sits and marks out his score, it begins to become a part of him. She learns on her own. And time has shown that this is exactly the case!! I hope that one day his music library with conductor's notes will be digitized, and new generations of conductors will be able to look into his creative workshop. There's a lot to learn there!
I remember another story: we once discussed the number of shirts that have to be changed during rehearsals and, especially, during breaks at concerts. And suddenly at some point Sasha told me: you know, but I understood what needs to be done to solve this unpleasant problem! It’s enough just to memorize the essay thoroughly and be confident in your every move. And it works!!!
….“Simple”… easy to say. :-) Sasha once told me that he spent a long time learning “The Rite of Spring,” but somehow he couldn’t learn it. Then the best solution was found. He just bet with himself that he would learn it by heart. And learned it! And since then, performing it, he made the musicians sweat while remaining dry!
Sasha played the piano very well. Repeatedly I had the opportunity to verify this. He had an excellent knowledge of the human voice, and more than once I turned to him for advice on choosing the “right” singer for a particular composition. He never refused.
Great, just fantastically great, working with singers. I remember seeing his rehearsal with singer Elena Belkina somewhere online. It was a real Master class. He himself sat at the piano, played, sang, explained interestingly and clearly. Look. Mussorgsky it was “Songs and Dances of Death”, if I’m not mistaken, or “Children’s Room”.
Sasha could also go on stage as an accompanist for the singer. And you could always rely on him. It was somehow calm to be around him; he radiated goodwill and confidence.
We were also united by our love for rarely performed works. They loved to brag to each other about their excavation finds. Thus, I learned about Ravel’s orchestration of Schumann’s “Carnival” from him. And these are just one of many examples.
Sasha was a very grateful person. He always remembered the good and never forgot about him and those who were nearby.
I adored dogs, which for me personally is always some kind of special sign of belonging to people of a special, warm-hearted, warm nature. He was sincerely in love with Russia and Russian nature. Be sure to spend at least a few weeks every year in the Russian outback, for example, rafting down rivers and living in a tent. At the same time, he knew a lot about good Italian food and purebred red wine. He spoke several languages, and, if I’m not mistaken, he learned Italian himself, without any courses or teachers. He just started staging operas in Sicily and poco a poco, with each new score he learned, the language began to penetrate into him. He loved Scandinavia very much and was proud of the house he built in Finland. Well, he didn’t completely build it himself (although I don’t rule out that he could have done it himself - his hands were golden in all respects), but the builders of his Finnish dacha were under his constant supervision and control. What else I remember... of course, our last two meetings: in the summer of 2021 - first in St. Petersburg, on Toska at the Mikhailovsky Theater, of which he had just become artistic director and chief conductor, and then, in Warsaw.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for him??) Sasha was not a “writer”. I have very few letters or emails written by his hand. He preferred a lively, long and calm conversation on the phone, especially from a hotel, at the end of the working day, after a delicious dinner with a glass of his favorite red. You could talk to him endlessly. There was always enough.
One of the last meetings was in Paris, at the Svetlanov conducting competition. Despite the fact that the jury included Jorma Panula and Gidon Kremer, and several very large managers from the world of classical music - namely A.A. Vedernikov was entrusted to lead the work of this jury.
It was a pleasure to listen and see with what skill Sasha led the meetings and found solutions to quite difficult situations. What I mean is that the judges’ opinions often did not coincide...
I remember a long night walk in Paris, along the Seine, after dinner in some cozy restaurant. There were five of us and Sasha was next to one of us all the way. Listening, talking about plans, sharing a fresh joke (no one knew how to tell jokes better than him!!! And he always had the most selective, the best and the funniest!!!) And right now Sasha’s voice is in my ears (who knew him - remembers the inimitable manner of talking very seriously about very funny!!!).
All the orchestras to which I invited him always asked him to return as quickly as possible. He was truly loved. Sincerely. And this is a very rare feeling between an orchestral musician and a conductor. That's how it happened somehow. D.G. Kitayenko said: “What do you want? We are on opposite sides of the barricades!!” :-)
Last meeting
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Sasha flew to Warsaw, where one of the best Polish orchestras - Sinfonia Varsovia - offered him the position of chief conductor and artistic director. He agreed and flew to record the first joint disc and attend the concert associated with it.
At the same time, I had rehearsals and concerts with my group - the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Poland gave us not only a meeting, but also several days of communication. I was at his concert, he was at mine. We had lunch and dinner together, walked, made plans: how two Russians could work in the capital of Poland without intersecting in their repertoire and without taking each other’s audience away.
The last few hours before his departure we spent in a simple Greek restaurant. I didn’t want to leave, but there were numerous meetings ahead - now we will work in the same city!
We hugged for a while. All.
Then only text messages from the hospital.
Alexander Vedernikov was a wonderful musician, an excellent, great conductor, and a very bright person. This is how I will remember him.
And listen to him, and look at him, and learn from him.
About Sasha
These notes are like still images of memory. The main thing about them is that I write only about what I remember for sure. Without adding or embellishing anything.
We met Sasha (sorry, but for me he was and will remain Sasha) in Tallinn at the all-Union selection for the conducting competition. G. Fitelberg in Katowice.
Why he wasn’t chosen then is a mystery to me. He conducted excellently. I remember it. And not just me.
Apparently, as often happens, the jury assessed the candidates not only by their conducting skills... Competitions...
Can I call Sasha my friend? It seems to me that I can, although it all depends on what you mean by this word. We didn't grow up together, didn't go to the same school or conservatory. They lived in different cities and belonged to different conducting schools. Our first meeting in Tallinn in 1986 at the all-Union selection for the Fitelberg Competition in Poland immediately brought us closer, and since then we have communicated and seen each other, although not often, but regularly, until July 2020. We called each other back, visited each other, had meals, drank - as if without this.
Each of us went our own way. I started in the provinces, and Sasha, fortunately, had the opportunity to work in Moscow and remain visible, which led to the fact that in 1995 he had his own orchestra, the Russian Philharmonic. And the first thing he did then was to invite his conductor friends there. This says a lot, believe me. Sasha never envied anyone! This feeling, it seems to me, was completely unfamiliar to him.
Giving meant more to him than taking. At least throughout the years of our friendship, he confirmed this many times.
At the beginning of his career, Sasha conducted many and often ballets (most often by P. I. Tchaikovsky), and was a little afraid of ending up in a group of “purely ballet” conductors). There is such a caste in the conducting workshop. Many of them were and are excellent musicians, but they could not go beyond the ballet repertoire. Let's remember, for example, Yuri Fayer at the Bolshoi Theater.
But Sasha had nothing to fear. And the musicians of Covent Garden and La Scala, and other major opera houses in the world, having seen him at the controls once (even in a ballet performance) - remembered him forever.
Sasha's appointment to BT was a surprise to most. The years he spent at the head of this theater are remembered and will be remembered by everyone for whom this Main Theater of the Country had, or has at least some significance.
The new (very young) Chief Conductor had to face a huge number of problems there. Sasha did not like to go into details on this topic, but in our conversations then he often spoke about the need for a serious update of this structure. And an orchestra, and an opera troupe, and even a ballet company.
New names of conductors and directors immediately began to appear at BT, not to mention talented young people. The repertoire was updated, very rare titles appeared (for example, in 2009, the first production in Moscow of A. Berg’s opera “Wozzeck”). Sasha was not afraid to stage “The Children of Rosenthal” by Leonid Desyatnikov with a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin, who already had a reputation as the “enfant terrible” of Russian literature. Not everyone remembers now, and some don’t even know, in what atmosphere San Sanych had to work then. He survived. He was convinced of the quality of the music, and stood up for it.
Today, January 11, 2024, Alexander Vedernikov would have turned 60 years old. How strange it is to write the particle “would”... Why him?
Listening and reviewing his recordings (what a blessing that they exist!), I understand him more and more over time. His concerts and performances were always a new and fresh interpretation of even the most seemingly well-known scores to us all. Sasha had the main thing - his personal, personal vision and understanding of the opera, symphony, and instrumental concert. He knew how to convey this understanding to musicians and knew how to get from them, regardless of country and language, exactly what he needed. His interpretations could be controversial, even unexpected. Not everyone and did not always agree with him, but he knew how to convince and achieve. He knew how, with the help of his own unique conducting technique, to lead, as if by a thread, the musicians along the path he had chosen.
He loved to study. I remember well how we discussed the issue of marking scores. Sasha then said that while he sits and marks out his score, it begins to become a part of him. She learns on her own. And time has shown that this is exactly the case!! I hope that one day his music library with conductor's notes will be digitized, and new generations of conductors will be able to look into his creative workshop. There's a lot to learn there!
I remember another story: we once discussed the number of shirts that have to be changed during rehearsals and, especially, during breaks at concerts. And suddenly at some point Sasha told me: you know, but I understood what needs to be done to solve this unpleasant problem! It’s enough just to memorize the essay thoroughly and be confident in your every move. And it works!!!
….“Simple”… easy to say. :-) Sasha once told me that he spent a long time learning “The Rite of Spring,” but somehow he couldn’t learn it. Then the best solution was found. He just bet with himself that he would learn it by heart. And learned it! And since then, performing it, he made the musicians sweat while remaining dry!
Sasha played the piano very well. Repeatedly I had the opportunity to verify this. He had an excellent knowledge of the human voice, and more than once I turned to him for advice on choosing the “right” singer for a particular composition. He never refused.
Great, just fantastically great, working with singers. I remember seeing his rehearsal with singer Elena Belkina somewhere online. It was a real Master class. He himself sat at the piano, played, sang, explained interestingly and clearly. Look. Mussorgsky it was “Songs and Dances of Death”, if I’m not mistaken, or “Children’s Room”.
Sasha could also go on stage as an accompanist for the singer. And you could always rely on him. It was somehow calm to be around him; he radiated goodwill and confidence.
We were also united by our love for rarely performed works. They loved to brag to each other about their excavation finds. Thus, I learned about Ravel’s orchestration of Schumann’s “Carnival” from him. And these are just one of many examples.
Sasha was a very grateful person. He always remembered the good and never forgot about him and those who were nearby.
I adored dogs, which for me personally is always some kind of special sign of belonging to people of a special, warm-hearted, warm nature. He was sincerely in love with Russia and Russian nature. Be sure to spend at least a few weeks every year in the Russian outback, for example, rafting down rivers and living in a tent. At the same time, he knew a lot about good Italian food and purebred red wine. He spoke several languages, and, if I’m not mistaken, he learned Italian himself, without any courses or teachers. He just started staging operas in Sicily and poco a poco, with each new score he learned, the language began to penetrate into him. He loved Scandinavia very much and was proud of the house he built in Finland. Well, he didn’t completely build it himself (although I don’t rule out that he could have done it himself - his hands were golden in all respects), but the builders of his Finnish dacha were under his constant supervision and control. What else I remember... of course, our last two meetings: in the summer of 2021 - first in St. Petersburg, on Toska at the Mikhailovsky Theater, of which he had just become artistic director and chief conductor, and then, in Warsaw.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for him??) Sasha was not a “writer”. I have very few letters or emails written by his hand. He preferred a lively, long and calm conversation on the phone, especially from a hotel, at the end of the working day, after a delicious dinner with a glass of his favorite red. You could talk to him endlessly. There was always enough.
One of the last meetings was in Paris, at the Svetlanov conducting competition. Despite the fact that the jury included Jorma Panula and Gidon Kremer, and several very large managers from the world of classical music - namely A.A. Vedernikov was entrusted to lead the work of this jury.
It was a pleasure to listen and see with what skill Sasha led the meetings and found solutions to quite difficult situations. What I mean is that the judges’ opinions often did not coincide...
I remember a long night walk in Paris, along the Seine, after dinner in some cozy restaurant. There were five of us and Sasha was next to one of us all the way. Listening, talking about plans, sharing a fresh joke (no one knew how to tell jokes better than him!!! And he always had the most selective, the best and the funniest!!!) And right now Sasha’s voice is in my ears (who knew him - remembers the inimitable manner of talking very seriously about very funny!!!).
All the orchestras to which I invited him always asked him to return as quickly as possible. He was truly loved. Sincerely. And this is a very rare feeling between an orchestral musician and a conductor. That's how it happened somehow. D.G. Kitayenko said: “What do you want? We are on opposite sides of the barricades!!” :-)
Last meeting
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Sasha flew to Warsaw, where one of the best Polish orchestras - Sinfonia Varsovia - offered him the position of chief conductor and artistic director. He agreed and flew to record the first joint disc and attend the concert associated with it.
At the same time, I had rehearsals and concerts with my group - the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Poland gave us not only a meeting, but also several days of communication. I was at his concert, he was at mine. We had lunch and dinner together, walked, made plans: how two Russians could work in the capital of Poland without intersecting in their repertoire and without taking each other’s audience away.
The last few hours before his departure we spent in a simple Greek restaurant. I didn’t want to leave, but there were numerous meetings ahead - now we will work in the same city!
We hugged for a while. All.
Then only text messages from the hospital.
Alexander Vedernikov was a wonderful musician, an excellent, great conductor, and a very bright person. This is how I will remember him.
And listen to him, and look at him, and learn from him.
