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The Chernushenkos’ spacious apartment in St. Petersburg. It’s late night
and as usual, the head of the family, Vladislav Chernushenko, gets back
home. Opening the door carefully not to wake anyone up, he walks in and
sees his little granddaughter standing in the hallway.
- Why are you still awake, baby? It’s its very late you know…
- I was waiting for you, granddad… I’ve been missing you.
Each time you get back so late at night I’m already in bed. So today I
decided to wait up for you…
- And what do you want us to talk about?
- Everything. Tell me about the time when you were a little
kid…
- A little kid? Sometimes it seems to me I never was one...
When I was your age, the Germans invaded this country and moved close to
our city. Back then they called it Leningrad…
- And so you went out to the battlefront?
- No, baby, it never came to that, really… But I still remember
the sirens wailing, the bombs coming down and then the famine and cold…
People who live through all this grow up fast and never ever forget it,
no matter where they go and what they do…
Vladislav Chernushenko was born on January 14, 1936. His father was an
engineer and his mother sang in a choir. In June 1941, the family
broke apart, Vladislav’s father, Alexander was drafted into the army and
was killed shortly after…
In the fall of 1941, the Germans moved almost flush against Leningrad and
the siege began. Most of the citizens failed to get out in time and Lidya
Chernushenko and her five-year-old son remained in the besieged city.
That year winter was extremely harsh with thousands upon thousands of people
killed by famine and cold. Dead bodies were left lying in the street because
those still alive were too exhausted to move them away. It’s still hard
to say exactly how many Leningraders died that terrible winter…
In March 1942, Vladislav and his mother finally managed to get out of town.
Emaciated and exhausted, the boy took months to regain his strength.
The siege ultimately broken in 1944. Vladislav and his mother returned
home and that same autumn Vladislav joined a boy’s choir, which was part
of the famous Leningrad Capella. Entering the old mansion overlooking the
Moika River, Vladislav could never imagine that the house would some day
become his second home. Years later Vladislav Chernushenko became the proud
and much-deserving occupant of the director’s office of Russia’s oldest
music company.
His road to the top was long and winding. Starting out as a ten-year-old
chorister combining daily rehearsals with a raft of other studies, Chernushenko
graduated with honors in 1953 and conducting a big choir he was the happiest
man in the whole world…
Continuing his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory, Vladislav spent five
years with their conductors’ department and another five simultaneously
studying music theory and symphony conducting. His teachers were stunned
by his larger than life talent and workaholic attitude. One of the
Conservatory’s hardest-working students, Chernushenko eventually became
one of the best-educated musicians of his generation…
Always hungry for learning new things, Chernushenko then moved on into
language studies and opened ever new vistas in music generously sharing
his knowledge with his listeners…
Graduating from the Conservatory, Chernushenko headed east to the Urals
spending four years at the head of a highly professional choir in Magnitogorsk
where he also doubled teaching at a local music college. There he found
his future wife, the one and only woman he loved all his life…
Getting back to Leningrad, Vladislav Chernushenko started conducting at
the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater spawning a whole constellation of critically
and publicly-acclaimed operas and ballets.
Then, all of a sudden, they offered him to take up the Leningrad Choir.
Vladislav was dumbfounded… Conducting a choir?! But he had been conducting
operas and symphonies for such a long time! People said he was doing great
and would someday become the Maly’s chief conductor! Upon much consideration,
the 38-year-old Chernushenko turned down the offer, but walking up to the
Capella’s main building he was so overwhelmed by tenderness and warm memories
of the good old days that he felt a sudden urge to give it a try and… agreed!
The Leningrad Capella had fallen on hard times long since having lost its
clout of this country’s musical pride and glory. The regular changes of
guard there had severely undermined the once rigid discipline, the best
singers had long quit and those who had stayed behind were neither good
singers nor really willing to improve. They welcomed the new choirmaster
with a condescending chuckle not taking him seriously and all but ignoring
his instructions.
Faced with the daunting task of enforcing discipline and hard work, Vladislav
was still averse to rule with an iron fist. Instead, he tried to
get the singers interested offering them ever-new programs, that were as
fascinating as they were challenging. Each rehearsal was preceded by a
painstaking study of the score, the existing performing traditions and
his very own performance plan. Fully aware of the vocal problems
to grapple with, Chernushenko always came up with the right advice and
his singers were now increasingly invigorated by the consistently improving
quality of their sound…
Alternating group and personal training, Chernushenko saw how his work-starved
singers were eagerly responding to his desires…
...In 1974 Vladislav Chernushenko took up the Leningrad Choir. One of Russia’s
longest-serving outfit, the choir had by then lost most of its once exceptional
clout and so Chernushenko worked real hard to bring back the good old traditions
selecting singers, mixing the timbres, and experimenting with stage layouts.
The results of that arduous work did not take very long coming...
The repertoire was a topmost priority and Chernushenko focused almost entirely
on Russian music. He started with contemporary music having the city’s
composers literally lining up bringing in their writings he used to make
new programs. Chernushenko was especially partial to music written by the
Moscow- based composer Georgy Sviridov who was touted as a living legend
already in the Seventies.
Sviridov was quick to appreciate Chernushenko as one of the finest choirmasters
around and entrusted him the first performances of his new works including
the larger than life series of Orthodox chants the Choir brilliantly performed
in Leningrad, Moscow and during their tours abroad.
Russian church music eventually became a major priority for
the Leningrad Choir and Vladislav Chernushenko did much to bring back the
long forgotten music braving fierce opposition from the atheist-minded
Soviet officialdom. He patiently convinced the culture ministry paper pushers
that church music was the lifeblood of the Russian musical culture...
Finding the right words and, using the best possible argumentation, he
was surprised to see his persuasions gradually taking hold and the died-in-the
wool party bureaucrats finally succumbing, letting the choir breath new
life into the half-forgotten masterpieces of the past...
Chernushenko was lucky to draw extensively on the choir’s unique 16th century
library, leafing through the ancient tomes and more modern scores of church
music by Dmitry Bortnyansky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rakhmaninoff and
other great Masters of the past...
It was with awe and fascination that the audiences, packing up the Choir’s
concert hall were rediscovering the cultural riches of the distant past...
These programs also re-ignited public interest in the Choir itself, which
was getting better and better with each concert...
In 1979 Vladislav Chernushenko was appointed Rector of the Leningrad Conservatory
where he had already been holding choir and opera conducting classes for
several years. Teaching is one thing however and managing the whole institution
is certainly another...
His family and friends wondered how he would possibly manage to do both
things and tried to get him concentrated on one particular job only.
Chernushenko disagreed deciding to try to do both things, if only for one
short year. In fact, he combined the two jobs for a whole 23 years living
through all the political and economic upheavals of the past decades that
certainly brushed off on these two major music companies. And still, fighting
against all odds, Chernushenko did manage to emerge victorious from all
the predicaments that came his way.
He invited the veritable cream of Leningrad’s musical community to come
over and take up teaching jobs at the conservatory... He gave the conservatory
an impressive facelift clawing in a number of additional premises for Russia’s
oldest music college... He launched a large-scale restoration of the Capella’s
one of a kind building... And, above all, he preserved the brilliant choir,
later adding a symphony orchestra thus making the Capella look exactly
the way it did before the 1917 revolution...
The choir was now taking by storm the whole country and was moving further
afield. Parisians were probably impressed the most. After one concert Vladislav
Chernushenko was invited to take up the French radio choir. Auditioning
the singers, Chernushenko agreed thus adding one more outfit to the two
he already led.
This new chore put additional weight on his already tight working schedule...
Chernushenko had no problem adapting to this action-packed life, always
agile, smiling, friendly and attentive to others. He is equally hardworking
whether in class or rehearsing with the choir, presiding over meetings
and conducting on stage...
Vladislav Chernushenko spends his rare spare moments out of town relaxing
in a log house. Chernushenko built it himself, including the furniture
and house utensils. Handcrafting and walkabouts in the woods with his wife
and son give him the much needed rest from the rough and tumble of city
life and hectic day-to-day chores. Here, in the cool freshness of
the countryside, he draws inspiration and new ideas...
His talent and hard work have been amply rewarded as well. Vladislav Chernushenko
is the proud owner of a number of State Prizes and a member of several
academies. His biggest award, however, is the undying love of his listeners
who always give him and his choir a deafening round of applause after each
concert they play...
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