<The title of the article and the text are translated into English automatically, and will be edited in the future>
On March 29, the symphony subscription of the Bolshoi Theater in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory will continue with a concert of works by Richard Strauss. Songs for voice and symphony orchestra will be performed, as well as the symphonic poem "The Life of a Hero". Alexander Vedernikov, the chief conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theater, comments on the next appearance of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra on the Moscow stage.
— Alexander Alexandrovich, what guided you when you chose "The Life of a Hero" from all Richard Strauss's symphonic poems to perform?
— Last year, we already turned to the work of Richard Strauss, performing his "Don Quixote". I would call "The Life of a Hero" the pinnacle in the genre of a symphonic poem by Strauss – he did not work in this direction anymore, turning only to the genre of symphony. It can be said that in this poem he was able to summarize all his achievements, both artistic and technical. In the "Life of a Hero" the most decorative writing is observed, this poem itself is the longest of all… It seems to me that if an orchestra can play such a composition, it means that a certain milestone has been passed, one of the important orchestral peaks has been conquered. That is, I chose this essay largely because it is a kind of challenge to the team.
— Do you think that the orchestra is fully ready to conquer that peak, or do you want the band to, as they say, "grow" on it?
— "The Life of a Hero" belongs to such works, for which, perhaps, one can never be absolutely ready. Nevertheless, until some point, I would not have played this piece with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in principle. But now I clearly see that it is possible and necessary to play it. Although, of course, there is always room for development.
— What can you say about the soloist, soprano Ricarda Merbet?
— Ricarda Merbet was born in East Germany, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall moved to Vienna, and has been actively collaborating with the Vienna Opera ever since. As far as I know, she specializes mainly in Wagner and Strauss parts. It is not very well known in our country yet — for a number of reasons. For the same reasons, for example, Waltraud Mayer was unknown to us — in Moscow, her name began to be recognized only after we brought her here last year.
— Why did you choose this particular set of songs?
— If we talk about the songs of Richard Strauss, then the last four songs come to mind first, of course. They are the most famous. In fact, the complete works of Richard Strauss, which were recently finished publishing, includes a whole volume of Strauss's songs, which he himself orchestrated. This is about 25 essays. We have chosen a cycle of six songs based on the words of Brentano and five more separate songs that are quite well known.
The fact is that when a person studies at the conservatory, he necessarily plays several Strauss songs in the concertmaster class. There are several popular songs in our practice, some of which we will perform on March 29. But I don't think anyone has sung them with an orchestra in Russia yet, although I didn't check it specifically.
There is another reason why I wanted to play songs with an orchestra. Fifteen or twenty years ago, we had a widespread practice of chamber concerts in the Large and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory. In this case, I'm talking about piano, violin, and quartet, including vocal evenings. I remember, for example, how my father sang a concert in a Large hall, and then a concert in a Small hall. Everything is only with the piano. Both Russian music and Western music were performed there. And then such concerts ceased to be the rule — I can't say exactly when, and to the question "why?" I probably won't be able to answer either.
And I don't mean just the vocalists. If we compare what is happening now with the situation even ten years ago, today pianists play solo concerts much less often, and I can hardly imagine a sonata evening in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, for example. Of course, there are such cases, but for this it is necessary that Repin or Vengerov come, and at the same time they will go to the soloists, and not at all to listen to, say, Frank's sonata.
Therefore, when performing songs with the orchestra, we hint that it is necessary, one way or another, to return to chamber music on a larger scale
.
— As the head of the opera house, you will surely agree that chamber concerts for vocalists are a very important part of their lives as musicians, since chamber performances can provide an experience that cannot be acquired on the stage of the opera house. Would you like the artists of the Bolshoi Theatre to also take part in the renewal of the tradition you are talking about?
— I wanted it before, and I want it now. For example, when we auditioned for the production of the opera Boris Godunov, for various reasons — including this one — I said that we should not sing anything from the opera Boris Godunov, but let everyone come and sing Mussorgsky's romances. Everyone clenched their teeth and learned.
— What impression did it make on you?
— Very good. First of all, as I understand it, people took it seriously. Secondly, since this is a little-known territory for most of them, they did not rely on any stamps, but tried to create something of their own. In my opinion, it was an extremely useful experience.
But if we go back to the previous question, all this is quite difficult in the complex. The fact is that all our singers have a fairly high level of employment, and if you invite them to make a vocal evening of the Bolshoi Theater artists, they will first of all begin to offer excerpts from operas. If it comes to singing a chamber repertoire, then everything rests on the need to study new material, which is not welcomed by everyone. On the other hand, it makes sense to demand this, apparently, not from everyone, but only from those who will succeed.
In addition, a clear proposal has not yet been formulated, and there is also no platform on which it would be possible to respond to such a proposal in some way. If we had, for example, the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory for this purpose… At one time, I proposed to make a chamber subscription to the Bolshoi Theater.
We have very powerful and vibrant creative forces that could make such a subscription interesting: it would certainly be not only singers, but also various ensembles that exist within our orchestra. I cannot say that this idea has not been at all understood by the leadership of the Moscow Philharmonic, but we have not yet come to any concrete decision. Perhaps this is a matter of the future.
Source.
On March 29, the symphony subscription of the Bolshoi Theater in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory will continue with a concert of works by Richard Strauss. Songs for voice and symphony orchestra will be performed, as well as the symphonic poem "The Life of a Hero". Alexander Vedernikov, the chief conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theater, comments on the next appearance of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra on the Moscow stage.
— Alexander Alexandrovich, what guided you when you chose "The Life of a Hero" from all Richard Strauss's symphonic poems to perform?
— Last year, we already turned to the work of Richard Strauss, performing his "Don Quixote". I would call "The Life of a Hero" the pinnacle in the genre of a symphonic poem by Strauss – he did not work in this direction anymore, turning only to the genre of symphony. It can be said that in this poem he was able to summarize all his achievements, both artistic and technical. In the "Life of a Hero" the most decorative writing is observed, this poem itself is the longest of all… It seems to me that if an orchestra can play such a composition, it means that a certain milestone has been passed, one of the important orchestral peaks has been conquered. That is, I chose this essay largely because it is a kind of challenge to the team.
— Do you think that the orchestra is fully ready to conquer that peak, or do you want the band to, as they say, "grow" on it?
— "The Life of a Hero" belongs to such works, for which, perhaps, one can never be absolutely ready. Nevertheless, until some point, I would not have played this piece with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in principle. But now I clearly see that it is possible and necessary to play it. Although, of course, there is always room for development.
— What can you say about the soloist, soprano Ricarda Merbet?
— Ricarda Merbet was born in East Germany, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall moved to Vienna, and has been actively collaborating with the Vienna Opera ever since. As far as I know, she specializes mainly in Wagner and Strauss parts. It is not very well known in our country yet — for a number of reasons. For the same reasons, for example, Waltraud Mayer was unknown to us — in Moscow, her name began to be recognized only after we brought her here last year.
— Why did you choose this particular set of songs?
— If we talk about the songs of Richard Strauss, then the last four songs come to mind first, of course. They are the most famous. In fact, the complete works of Richard Strauss, which were recently finished publishing, includes a whole volume of Strauss's songs, which he himself orchestrated. This is about 25 essays. We have chosen a cycle of six songs based on the words of Brentano and five more separate songs that are quite well known.
The fact is that when a person studies at the conservatory, he necessarily plays several Strauss songs in the concertmaster class. There are several popular songs in our practice, some of which we will perform on March 29. But I don't think anyone has sung them with an orchestra in Russia yet, although I didn't check it specifically.
There is another reason why I wanted to play songs with an orchestra. Fifteen or twenty years ago, we had a widespread practice of chamber concerts in the Large and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory. In this case, I'm talking about piano, violin, and quartet, including vocal evenings. I remember, for example, how my father sang a concert in a Large hall, and then a concert in a Small hall. Everything is only with the piano. Both Russian music and Western music were performed there. And then such concerts ceased to be the rule — I can't say exactly when, and to the question "why?" I probably won't be able to answer either.
And I don't mean just the vocalists. If we compare what is happening now with the situation even ten years ago, today pianists play solo concerts much less often, and I can hardly imagine a sonata evening in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, for example. Of course, there are such cases, but for this it is necessary that Repin or Vengerov come, and at the same time they will go to the soloists, and not at all to listen to, say, Frank's sonata.
Therefore, when performing songs with the orchestra, we hint that it is necessary, one way or another, to return to chamber music on a larger scale
.
— As the head of the opera house, you will surely agree that chamber concerts for vocalists are a very important part of their lives as musicians, since chamber performances can provide an experience that cannot be acquired on the stage of the opera house. Would you like the artists of the Bolshoi Theatre to also take part in the renewal of the tradition you are talking about?
— I wanted it before, and I want it now. For example, when we auditioned for the production of the opera Boris Godunov, for various reasons — including this one — I said that we should not sing anything from the opera Boris Godunov, but let everyone come and sing Mussorgsky's romances. Everyone clenched their teeth and learned.
— What impression did it make on you?
— Very good. First of all, as I understand it, people took it seriously. Secondly, since this is a little-known territory for most of them, they did not rely on any stamps, but tried to create something of their own. In my opinion, it was an extremely useful experience.
But if we go back to the previous question, all this is quite difficult in the complex. The fact is that all our singers have a fairly high level of employment, and if you invite them to make a vocal evening of the Bolshoi Theater artists, they will first of all begin to offer excerpts from operas. If it comes to singing a chamber repertoire, then everything rests on the need to study new material, which is not welcomed by everyone. On the other hand, it makes sense to demand this, apparently, not from everyone, but only from those who will succeed.
In addition, a clear proposal has not yet been formulated, and there is also no platform on which it would be possible to respond to such a proposal in some way. If we had, for example, the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory for this purpose… At one time, I proposed to make a chamber subscription to the Bolshoi Theater.
We have very powerful and vibrant creative forces that could make such a subscription interesting: it would certainly be not only singers, but also various ensembles that exist within our orchestra. I cannot say that this idea has not been at all understood by the leadership of the Moscow Philharmonic, but we have not yet come to any concrete decision. Perhaps this is a matter of the future.
Source.
Boris LIFANOVSKY,
March, 14, 2007
March, 14, 2007
Alexander Vedernikov: "I would call "The Life of a Hero" the pinnacle in the genre of a symphonic poem by Strauss"
