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1963
             
In November Benjamin Britten becomes the highlight of the first festival of English music held in Moscow. The famed composer did more than just attending the first performances of his music, he accompanied the singer Peter Pierce on the piano and celebrated his 50th birthday on November 22nd conducting the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR.
Britten's music was all over the city, performed by leading operatic divas and young singers alike...
It was the first of Mr.Britten's many visits to Russia whose culture he loved so much writing several pieces inspired by his impressions of this country. For the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich he wrote a suite built around several folk Russian tunes and for Galina Vishnevskaya - a vocal cycle based on poems by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
The famous Russian-born conductor Igor Markevich was performing in Moscow, the man whose family did much to advance Russian culture back in the 19th century. Shortly before the October revolution of 1917, the family emigrated to France and the would-be conductor was brought up in Paris. Igor Markevich became the first non-French artist to be awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters.
To keep happy thousands of admiring fans flocking to see his performances, Markevich offered each performance twice drawing glowing reviews from critics who extolled the huge and diverse talents of the great Maestro…
"Markevich belongs to the rare breed of musicians who fall in love with every score they conduct," enthused one critic, "that's why his every concert is a celebration…"
Apparently enjoying his stay in Russia, Markevich took his time working here and in the fall of 1963 he held a seminar at the Moscow Conservatory which continued several months and spawned some of the finest conductors Russia has ever had….
Meanwhile, the little-known American conductor Laureen Maazel was creating quite a stir in Moscow. Even though his first concert played to a virtually empty hall, the ones that followed were sold out long before they started…
"It's hard to find anything more expressive than Maazel's arms," eulogized a respected Moscow critic. "They are an amazingly accurate embodiment of what music is all about…"
"The very looks of this man is absolutely captivating with its musicality, inspiration and artistic charm that is so hard to find these days," echoed another…
"It's not so much the beauty of the way his arms move," the leading Russian conductor Kirill Kondrashin said, "but rather his ability to get the listener in on the act and to make him better comprehend the music that is being played…"
In the intervening years Laureen Maazel has repeatedly performed in Russia whose music he has come to love so much…
In Moscow, composer Rodion Shchedrin was busily asserting his preference for Russian folk music, mainly the chastushki - two-line or four-line rhymed poems or ditties on topical and humorous themes so popular among the Russian village people. Shchedrin fell in love with those simple tunes which provided the basis for his awesome Mischievous Chastushki concerto for a symphony orchestra.
The concerto quickly became the composer's trademark piece and has since been widely played throughout the world.
The Bolshoi Opera took in a new lead singer who had just won the first prize at a national singers' competition. Yelena Obraztsova was still an unknown entity but with a stellar future lying in store with victories at prestigious international competitions, triumphal performances at La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden and other leading theaters and the well-deserved reputation of the world's best mezzo-soprano.
Just a few years later the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan said:
"This Russian woman has unique talent, absolutely amazing, like in a fairy tale…" The young Russian musicians were keeping up the good job adding more wins to their already impressive collection of prizes taken at major international competitions. The 26 year-old Moscow Conservatory graduate Mikhail Khomitser bowed out with the first prize of the prestigious Pablo Casals cellists' festival in Budapest, Hungary…
Violinist Oleg Krysa won the gold medal playing at the Niccolo Paganini competition in Genoa. The jurors were so impressed by his performance that they allowed the Russian to play a unique violin once owned by Paganini himself…
In Paris, Irina Bochkova from Moscow triumphed at the Jacques Tibauld competition in a formidable follow up to a silver medal she had won the year before participating in the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow.
In the popular music department, things were going equally well with Arkady Ostrovsky's Let there Always Be Sunshine named the best at the Sopot song festival in Poland. The song had been inspired by a child's drawing of a sun shining brightly and writing underneath the words "Let there always be sunshine! Let there always be the sky! Let there always be Mom! Let there always be me!"
In 1963 a young man with a guitar in hand started playing his songs first in Moscow and then elsewhere in Russia. Sergei Nikitin, a certified physicist, spent most of his time working in the lab and writing songs after work. Nikitin started out entertaining his friends who spread the word and, before long, everyone was singing his songs.
For decades Sergei Nikitin's kind and charming songs have been lighting up our life with their heartfelt sincerity and loving affection…
In 1963 the famous film-director Georgy Daneliya released his The Streets of Moscow masterpiece to the music written by the young composer Andrei Petrov. No one kills or chases anyone over unshared love there. The movie is all about subtle lyricism and the wonderful expectation of happiness the young people know so well…
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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