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By Olga Fyodorova
…One morning in spring 1956, someone rang the doorbell of Moscow Conservatory
Professor Yuri Yankelevich. Opening the door, he saw standing there a good-looking
young woman in her early thirties.
“Oh! I thought it was the maid…”
“May I speak to Professor Yankelevich?”
“It’s me. Why? Are you a violinist?”
“No, I’m not a musician. My husband is, he plays in a military band. And
now my son is also studying music. Frankly speaking, I didn’t like
the idea… We live in a God-forsaken army compound in Siberia, far from
the city. My husband started giving his lessons though and was immediately
amazed by the boy’s musical abilities. Then I brought Viktor into
town to enter a music school there. They said the piano department
was all filled out and suggested he take up the violin. We started
going there twice a week. It was a long way but my son was in seventh heaven,
really… Three year later, his teacher told me after the examinations: “Your
boy has exceptional talent. He should study in Moscow under the best Professors
they have there. Some day, maybe very soon, Viktor will have the whole
world talking about him…” He somehow managed to find your address and told
me to go to Moscow to talk you into taking care of my boy. Please,
don’t turn him down! I know he’ll make it big, I know…”
Viktor Tretyakov was a serious boy, maybe too serious for his age. He never
really went in for the games his peers played. The violin was everything
to him. And still, the very thought that he could disappoint the Professor
was unbearable to him. Viktor practiced day and night and was making
great progress, touted as one of the best they had in school for musically
endowed children he was going to in Moscow.
At 17, still at school, Viktor got his first musical award playing at a
national competition. The victory opened him the way to the famous Tchaikovsky
competition only a chosen few young Russian performers were allowed to
play in. Just like in sport, a Soviet player simply had no right to fail
at an international competition – that was a must requirement only those
with the strongest willpower managed to meet…
And the young man from faraway Siberia did just that making easy work of
all the rest in his department during the 3rd Tchaikovsky Competition in
the summer of 1966.
Shortly after that triumph Viktor Tretyakov entered the Moscow Conservatory
and, needless to say, joined the class of his good friend and teacher,
professor Yuri Yankelevich.
A critically and publicly acclaimed winner of the very prestigious Tchaikovsky
competition, Viktor was now playing at the best venues and recording with
big name labels only…
That head-spinning success would be more than enough for many an 18-year-old
youngster to lose his bearings. But that never happened because Viktor’s
mother and Professor Yankelevich were always by his side, caring, demanding
and keeping him firmly on track…
One day Viktor realized he had played virtually everything that had ever
been written for the violin. Alas, the violin repertoire had its limits
and he was now envious of the pianists and, even more so, the conductors
who had all the best music at their fingertips.
The decision to move on to conducting came suddenly. Shortly after
Tretyakov was invited to take up an orchestra, the famous Moscow Chamber
Orchestra Rudolf Barshai founded years before and which had seen a number
of conductors come and go since Barshai’s emigration.
Gripped by a burning desire to try his hand in something he had never done
before, and without giving up the violin, Viktor Tretyakov eagerly took
up he baton rehearsing music by Corelli, Vivaldi and Mozart…
That new infatuation, however, did not last long. Music by the Old Masters,
which makes up the bulk of the chamber repertoire, prevented him from opening
up his soul. A born romantic, Tretyakov longed for the stirringly colorful
concerts by Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky.
He was also frustrated by the organizational rough and tumble, which is
part and parcel of the life of conductors everywhere. He now realized that
handling people was not his cup of tea and, after a short stint with the
MCO, he quit, and never got back to conducting again…
He also tried his hand in teaching. Becoming a Conservatory Professor in
Moscow, he took over the class of his then late teacher Yuri Yankelevich,
but never managed to keep it going right because he couldn’t afford cutting
down sharply on the number of concerts he played.
Once, years ago, Yuri Yankelevich had given up his performing career for
the sake of his students. Viktor Tretyakov was not prepared for that and,
shortly afterwards, he gave up his job at the Conservatory.
Shy and self-effacing, Viktor Tretyakov spent years to meet his love. His
friends had repeatedly tried to tame this tight-lipped young man but he
always managed to slip away from a party to get back to his music.
Viktor was well over thirty when he met a charming young woman who reminded
him of his mother. A technical college graduate, Yelena made an excellent
wife giving birth to two daughters and leaving work to tend to her children
and husband so that Viktor could keep playing on.
Their daughters are now professional musicians too with the elder one,
Anna, a violinist like her father, and Maria playing the piano and already
a winner of several competitions. Always on the road, father and
his daughters don’t have much time to spend together though.
In recent years Viktor Tretyakov has been taking a growing interest in
teaching and a few years ago he was invited to open a master class in Germany.
And still, his greatest joy and satisfaction is the time he spends with
his beloved violin. It doesn’t really matter whether you are playing for
your friends or thousands of people packing a concert hall somewhere in
Europe or North America. What really matters is your ability to play with
your heart and soul – which is precisely what Professor Yankelevich always
wanted…
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