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By N. Victorova
January 30 marks the birth centennial of the outstanding Russian composer Isaak Dunayevsky. A unique personality in the history of Russian culture, Dunayevsky was called a classic of the Soviet song. Unlike many other composers, he was immensly popular in his lifetime. 45 years after his death, his radiant, cheerful and optimistc melodies have lost none of their charm. Dunayevsky's songs can be heard in every house and are often sung during feasts. Some are even regared as folk songs, such as for example "The Snowball-Tree in Bloom".
His other song about a brave captain in love from the film "The Children of Captain Grant" based on a popular novel by Jules Verne became a tremendous hit. An overture from the same film is frequently performed by Russian orchestras.
The prime of his career fell on the Stalinist rule: the 30s, 40s and 50s. That was the time of political trials and mass reprisals, but it was also the time of turbulent industrial development, the time of great enthusiasm and great hopes. In the 30s the young Soviet Republic, battered by the high-winds of the 1917 revolution and the civil war of 1918-1980, was making a speedy recovery. Many new cities, plants and electric power stations were built. Lots of movie-houses and dance pavillions were opened. Perhaps never before there had been as much singing and dancing as in the 30s. This is another side of the Stalinist regime.
Composer Yuri Saulsky wrote about Dunayevsky: "He was one of those who sincerely believed in a bright future, a brilliant composer with a lucid attitude to life. That's one of his most striking qualities. Dunayevsky's music is always in major".
Some critics call him a court composer of the Stalinist era, because he wrote many patriotic songs. Others say that he created a world of bright illusions against the background of gloomy reality. Still others, among them the well-known writer Mikhail Bulgakov, believed that Dunayevsky's music was a reflection of his romantic dreams. One of his close friends, composer Tikhon Khrennikov, recalled: "There were different periods in Dunayevsky's life. He was, indeed, encouraged by the government, he received awards and was loved by the people. But there were also dramatic moments such as, for example, the notorious struggle against "cosmopolitism" when Dunayevsky fell into disgrace. A high-ranking official in the Soviet Ministry of Culture accused him of all mortal sins and made libellous remarks about him.
Isaak Dunayevsky died at the age of 55. His left behind true music pearls. "Old songs are often called "retro", the word appears to be in fashion now, but it cannot be applied to such masters as Dunayevsky, Novikov, Soloviev-Sedoy", says President of the Russian Union of Composers Vladislav Kazenin. "Dunayevsky's songs aren't "old". They are always new. The same about Beethoven and Mozart."
"This music accompanied us throughout our lives", says conductor Vladimir Rylov. "And now it accompanies younger generations. Today hundreds of children go on stage. Although they are not professional singers and their future is unpredictable, they have already plunged into Dunayevsky's world. Perhaps they do not quite understand the lyrics of the songs, but they will in due course. They will grasp the vivifying meaning, the energy of his music."
This year various Russian cities will be hosting a music festival titled "The Stars Of My Motherland" timed to Dunayevsky's jubilee. Concerts are being held in the Moscow Conservatory Grand Hall (from January 15 through 30) to commemorate his birth centennial. There will be a separate concert devoted to his music written for the cinema under the title "Favourite Films - Favourite Tunes". Leading Russian jazzmen will pay tribute to Dunayevsky in a concert of improvizations.
The artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater in St.Petersburg, conductor Valery Gergiev received the Russian independent "Triumph" award, adding it to his many other Russian and international prizes.
"Valery Gergiev has earned not only "Triumph" but every other award that exists today," says the outstanding conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov. "He is carrying out gigantic work at the conductor's stand. He has proved to be an amazing organizer of the musical process, musical action and guest performances. He has raised the Mariinsky Theater to an unattainable height."
The artistic talent of conductor Valery Gergiev is, certainly, vivid and quite unique. There is no denying his creative achievements. At the Mariinsky Theater he produces from 6 to 8 operas every year. He is often away touring foreign countries and showing the Mariinsky company on the world's most prestigious stages, say, at Covent Garden and Metropolitan Opera. In his prime and full of energy, Gergiev gives thought to pressing public issues. Of these he spoke to our correspondent L. Roshchina.
"We are approaching the third millennium, though ours are not very sure steps. I would like to emphasize that public and political events in Europe provide little reason for joy. This applies to Russia and Eastern and Western Europe. I have had a great number of meetings and could verify my feelings. What is needed is some coordinating action on the part of cultural personalities to move toward the great date - the third millennium. Europe is destined to become a single cultural space. Music is a remedy for every soul. It makes no division between black and white, Orthodox believers and Muslims. Music knows how to make any soul respond."
Valery Gergiev is a convinced peace-maker. He was born in the Caucasus in an Ossetian family, but studied in St. Petersburg where he absorbed the great traditions of Russian culture. He is at ease with people coming from different national communities and from all walks of life. Twice last year he took his programs to the Caucasus, inviting musicians from different regions to perform with his orchestra. He carried out a peace-making mission in Ireland, when he used music to remove the tragic consequences of the conflict between the Protestants and the Catholics. These and other important actions of the Mariinsky Theater are backed by "Philips", the German company that has been cooperating with Maestro Gergiev for several years.
"The Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra contributed to the ceremony of opening the gigantic concert hall in Japan. We also opened the grandiose theater in Shanghai in China. These were major cultural events in the history of these countries and the world at large. Along with "Philips" we are offering our hand of friendship to different countries. Thus we express our drive for progress and communication by means of the language of culture."
The Mariinsky Theater took part in the opening of a new theater in the town of Bilbao in Spain and the Guggenheim Museum in Germany. The Russian public owes it to Gergiev that it can often enjoy the performance of the celebrated Spanish singer Placido Domingo. It was a real treat to hear him last year in the gala concert on Red Square on the occasion of the 200th birth anniversary of Alexander Pushkin. Domingo also contributed to the new production at the Mariinsky Theater - Tchaikovsky's opera "Queen of Spades" based on Pushkin's story. The production is nominated for the Russian national award "The Golden Mask" in 1999. The prize winners will be announced in March.
"It's great that we address the classical opera. First we arranged festivals of national classical composers, such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev. Now we are working on operas by Wagner. Our target is a high quality of performance. We have just premiered Mozart's "Don Juan". Also in our repertoire is his "Marriage of Figaro" and Prokofiev's "Semyon Kotko", an opera regarded for decades as purely ideological. I believe, our interpretation is fine. "Semyon Kotko" is also nominated for "The Golden Mask" national award.
"We have great goals to achieve in the years 2000 and 2001. This coming February we are premiering Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace" produced by Andrei Konchalovsky. Besides, we have the nearly crazy task of staging the grandiose opera epic "Ring of the Nibelungen" by Wagner and a new version of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin". This will complete the ten-year period I have had with the Mariinsky Theater."
By Nina Yakhontova
Izabella Yurieva, the Queen of the Russian romance and a legend of the 20s and 40s, died in Moscow at the age of 101.
Last September she celebrated her centennial in the Russia concert hall. In his message of greetings read out at the concert President Boris Yeltsin thanked Yurieva for her enormous contribution to the Russian culture. "Many things will be forgotten and sink into oblivion", the message said, "but your golden voice will remain a symbol of the outgoing century". On her centennial birthday Yurieva was awarded the Order of Merit.
That day the "hostess of the ball appeared on stage in a dazzling fur-coat. Eye-witnesses say she was smashing. Yurieva was a woman of rare beauty. Many brilliant young men, among them the well-known US businessman and art connoisseur Armand Hammer, proposed to her. But the prospect of emigrating did not appeal to Yurieva. She remained faithful to her beloved homeland.
Yurieva made her debut in the late 10s in Rostov-on-the-Don in southern Russia. Her talent was noticed, and quite soon she was singing romances in Moscow. Fame came quickly. But in the late 20s the ideological atmosphere around her genre grew sharply worse. Paradoxically, it was World War II that brought romances back on stage. Like many artists Yurieva often performed before soldiers and it turned out that they preferred to listen to romances that reminded them of their homes and of peaceful life.
At her centennial party Yurieva was asked to sing. At first she answered coquettishly that she didn't want to bring shame upon herself, but then sang a few lines .
 

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