In memory of Alexander Vedernikov
<translated from Russian automatically, it will be edited late>
In Moscow, the chief conductor of the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater, the musical director of the Bolshoi Theater in 2001-2009, died of complications from a coronavirus infection
Death is always perceived as the greatest injustice. Especially when the young leave. Alexander Vedernikov Jr. was only 56: for a conductor, it was the time of youth, heyday, when the skill was already ripe, when the handwriting was individual, when there was a style, when understanding and depth came, and strength for decades to come. Conductors are very often long—lived, real patriarchs — Toscanini, Karajan, Boehm, Mravinsky. Unfortunately, fate did not let go of Alexander Alexandrovich so much — although, looking at his mighty bass father, the great singer of the Russian land Alexander Filippovich, who took the stage after eighty and sang brighter and fresher than many young colleagues, it seemed that Vedernikov's son still had a lot ahead of him — premieres, projects, recordings…
He started very early. At the age of 10, he already knew that he would be a conductor: with his father, an opera singer, an all—Union celebrity and his mother, an organist and a professor at the Conservatory, the choice seemed to be predetermined — to become a musician. But it's no secret that many children of famous artists rebel against destiny, and Sasha has always had a character and his own ideas about life. Therefore, it was not a program, but his choice — conscious, albeit early. At 24, after graduating from the Conservatory, he already conducts at the Stanislavsky Theater, then works at the famous Fedoseevsky BSO, then creates his own band — the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, with which a lot of interesting programs, recordings, and tours will be made…
One of the brightest projects of those years was the performance of all Rachmaninov's operas for the 125th anniversary of the genius: along with the hit "Aleko" and the rare, but revered by musicians for the delights and revelations of "Francesca da Rimini", the little—known "Stingy Knight" and the unfinished "Monna Vanna" were performed. It was already clear at that time: for all his symphonic talent, Vedernikov needed a theater, he was an opera man.
And the theater soon appeared in his life, and not just any, but the most important one — Vedernikov's almost decade in the Bolshoi was marked by the first coming to this stage of "The Power of Fate", "Adrienne Lecouvreur" and "The Fiery Angel", the search for authenticity in the textbook opus of the first Russian classic ("Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka) and the author's reading of the most sung hit of the national repertoire ("Onegin" staged by Dmitry Chernyakov), returning to the repertoire after decades of absence of Wagner ("The Flying Dutchman"), rehabilitation of the "boring, long and unaffordable" leviathan operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev — "Tales of the Invisible City of Kitezh" and "War and Peace". And a real repertoire bomb — for the first time in thirty years, the Bolshoi commissioned an opera by a modern composer: Leonid Desyatnikov's "Rosenthal's Children" made a splash not only musically and theatrically, but also socially and politically.
After the Bolshoi, he had a long and fruitful work in Denmark, which became his home port for a decade, and besides it, numerous performances in the best concert halls of the world and the first opera houses of the planet, tours and recordings with leading orchestras of Russia, Europe, Asia, Australia and America. Last winter, he thoroughly returned to his homeland — he headed the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, which, undoubtedly, needs a subtle and educated musician, a leader not so much charismatic (such he has in the person of director Vladimir Kekhman), but intellectual and profound, capable of creating not only performative outrageous actions, but real music. The very first production, an appeal to Verdi's "Aida", which had never been performed at the second St. Petersburg Opera House, confirmed that from now on music will be taken seriously here.
His repertoire was extremely wide: not only opera, but also ballet, symphonic and oratorical music of various eras and styles, Russian music and world classics, time-tested hits and world premieres of modern compositions. He was not afraid of non—mass — he conducted Tippett, Adams and Talbot, raised the binding opuses of Mahler and Schnittke, managed to make his own Wagner "Ring" — not every maestro decides on such a lump.
But for all the Europeanness and universalism of Vedernikov's talent, he always remained a Russian conductor: his interpretations were not struck by the heroic scale of Svetlanov or the nervous pulsation of Temirkanov — rather, they had more of the intellectual harmony of Rozhdestvensky. And he preferred the Russian repertoire, even working with foreign bands, for whom it is not such a simple and everyday bread.
His "Queen of Spades" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2018 was distinguished by intellectual delicacy, from reading there was not the usual Dostoevschina, but Chekhov's sophistication and melancholy, which was unexpected, and therefore not always understandable. But his original vision, even surprising and provoking a desire to argue, nevertheless testified to the originality and ability to look at what seemed to have been established for a long time with a fundamentally fresh look.
Source.
In Moscow, the chief conductor of the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater, the musical director of the Bolshoi Theater in 2001-2009, died of complications from a coronavirus infection
Death is always perceived as the greatest injustice. Especially when the young leave. Alexander Vedernikov Jr. was only 56: for a conductor, it was the time of youth, heyday, when the skill was already ripe, when the handwriting was individual, when there was a style, when understanding and depth came, and strength for decades to come. Conductors are very often long—lived, real patriarchs — Toscanini, Karajan, Boehm, Mravinsky. Unfortunately, fate did not let go of Alexander Alexandrovich so much — although, looking at his mighty bass father, the great singer of the Russian land Alexander Filippovich, who took the stage after eighty and sang brighter and fresher than many young colleagues, it seemed that Vedernikov's son still had a lot ahead of him — premieres, projects, recordings…
He started very early. At the age of 10, he already knew that he would be a conductor: with his father, an opera singer, an all—Union celebrity and his mother, an organist and a professor at the Conservatory, the choice seemed to be predetermined — to become a musician. But it's no secret that many children of famous artists rebel against destiny, and Sasha has always had a character and his own ideas about life. Therefore, it was not a program, but his choice — conscious, albeit early. At 24, after graduating from the Conservatory, he already conducts at the Stanislavsky Theater, then works at the famous Fedoseevsky BSO, then creates his own band — the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, with which a lot of interesting programs, recordings, and tours will be made…
One of the brightest projects of those years was the performance of all Rachmaninov's operas for the 125th anniversary of the genius: along with the hit "Aleko" and the rare, but revered by musicians for the delights and revelations of "Francesca da Rimini", the little—known "Stingy Knight" and the unfinished "Monna Vanna" were performed. It was already clear at that time: for all his symphonic talent, Vedernikov needed a theater, he was an opera man.
And the theater soon appeared in his life, and not just any, but the most important one — Vedernikov's almost decade in the Bolshoi was marked by the first coming to this stage of "The Power of Fate", "Adrienne Lecouvreur" and "The Fiery Angel", the search for authenticity in the textbook opus of the first Russian classic ("Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka) and the author's reading of the most sung hit of the national repertoire ("Onegin" staged by Dmitry Chernyakov), returning to the repertoire after decades of absence of Wagner ("The Flying Dutchman"), rehabilitation of the "boring, long and unaffordable" leviathan operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev — "Tales of the Invisible City of Kitezh" and "War and Peace". And a real repertoire bomb — for the first time in thirty years, the Bolshoi commissioned an opera by a modern composer: Leonid Desyatnikov's "Rosenthal's Children" made a splash not only musically and theatrically, but also socially and politically.
After the Bolshoi, he had a long and fruitful work in Denmark, which became his home port for a decade, and besides it, numerous performances in the best concert halls of the world and the first opera houses of the planet, tours and recordings with leading orchestras of Russia, Europe, Asia, Australia and America. Last winter, he thoroughly returned to his homeland — he headed the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, which, undoubtedly, needs a subtle and educated musician, a leader not so much charismatic (such he has in the person of director Vladimir Kekhman), but intellectual and profound, capable of creating not only performative outrageous actions, but real music. The very first production, an appeal to Verdi's "Aida", which had never been performed at the second St. Petersburg Opera House, confirmed that from now on music will be taken seriously here.
His repertoire was extremely wide: not only opera, but also ballet, symphonic and oratorical music of various eras and styles, Russian music and world classics, time-tested hits and world premieres of modern compositions. He was not afraid of non—mass — he conducted Tippett, Adams and Talbot, raised the binding opuses of Mahler and Schnittke, managed to make his own Wagner "Ring" — not every maestro decides on such a lump.
But for all the Europeanness and universalism of Vedernikov's talent, he always remained a Russian conductor: his interpretations were not struck by the heroic scale of Svetlanov or the nervous pulsation of Temirkanov — rather, they had more of the intellectual harmony of Rozhdestvensky. And he preferred the Russian repertoire, even working with foreign bands, for whom it is not such a simple and everyday bread.
His "Queen of Spades" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2018 was distinguished by intellectual delicacy, from reading there was not the usual Dostoevschina, but Chekhov's sophistication and melancholy, which was unexpected, and therefore not always understandable. But his original vision, even surprising and provoking a desire to argue, nevertheless testified to the originality and ability to look at what seemed to have been established for a long time with a fundamentally fresh look.
Source.
Alexander MATUSEVICH,
Kultura, 31 Nov 2020
Kultura, 31 Nov 2020
