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AT THE WORLD THEATRE OLYMPIAD
 
Alfred de Musset on the Russian stage
At the 3-d World Theatre Olympiad the Russian Academic Youth Theatre presented Lorenzaccio by the 19th century French dramatist Alfred de Musset. Lorenzaccio, the best-known and most significant of Musset's plays, is often staged in Europe and extremely rarely in Russia. One reason is the complexity of the plot. The author's free handling of time and space and the multi-episode structure of the play made it extremely hard to stage at an 19th century theatre.
Director Alexei Borodin and stage designer Stanislav Benediktov found an original solution: the play is acted in the hall, while spectators are seated in an amphitheatre on the stage. "The drama consists of a great number of episodes and we needed space to deal with rapidly changing scenes", Borodin explains. "Musset requires from the theatre and spectators an entirely new approach. So we thought it would be a good idea for spectators to change places with actors or rather with characters. Looking back at the events of the 16th century, we see reflections of ourselves. It turns out that time and space are relative notions. Musset's works are charged with some peculiar energy and conveying it to the audience is both an interesting and challenging task".
A critic who reviewed the first edition of Musset's plays wrote: "His independence from dates, costumes and from any historical bondage is amazing. Meanwhile, Lorenzaccio is based on true facts described in the Florentine Annals - the murder of Alessandro Medici by his cousin Lorenzaccio, an attempt to overthrow the tyranny and create a republic.
The sceneries designed by Stanislav Benediktov show 16th-century Florence with its elegant open-gallery palazzos. "We sought to reveal the artistic essence of this space", says Benediktov. "The amphitheatre on the stage resembles the ancient Coliseum where Lorenzaccio first conceived the idea of assassinating Alessandro. The romantic draperies on the chairs create the atmosphere of an Italian carnival".
The music written in the style of modern baroque adds dynamism and an element of grotesque.
"At the same time this is not avant-garde, but a classical Russian psychological theatre with inexhaustible means of expressiveness", says Stanislav Benediktov.
The Taganka Theatre premieres "The Theatrical Novel"
Moscow's Taganka Theatre premiered The Theatrical Novel based on the novel of the same title by the early 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. Taganka's artistic director Yuri Lubimov said that the premiere had been timed to the theatre's 37th birthday. Bulgakov, who for several years collaborated with the Moscow Art Theatre, knew theatrical life inside out. Lubimov expands Bulgakov's prose, making an "x-ray photograph" of behind-the-curtain life.
Says Taganka actress Anastasia Kolpikova: "This is a special theme because it's has no limits. All about theatre. Even though the play's main characters are associated with the Art Theatre's founders Sanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, it's more than just about the Art Theatre, it's about theatre in general and the Taganka theatre in particular..."
With the 83-year-old Lubimov sitting as usual at the director's stand as if he were conducting an orchestra, and saying his remarks as the action unfolds, the performance looks like an ordinary rehearsal.
Among the characters one recognizes the heroes of other of Bulgakov's novels - The White Guard and Moliere - and a grotesque figure of the Soviet ruler Jozeph Stalin on horseback, reflecting about an artist's destiny. Actors read passages from books and letters by Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Their monologues are interspersed with Lubimov's own maxims. The horse is an important part of the sets along with the sea-gull, the Art Theatre's emblem. Appearing on horseback, one after another, are the Roman emperor Nero, the Russian emperor Alexander III, a Red Army commander brandishing a sable, and a naked youth. Lubimov rejects the universal character of the famous Stanislavsky theory and advocates his own school of acting, based on improvisation. The play stars Valery Zolotukhin as the "toppled" great reformer Stanislavsky.
"There is a good deal of irony in the words "great reformer", says Valery Zolotukhin. "After working with Yuri Lubimov, another "great reformer", I realized that with time all reforms become dogmas and call for new reforms". .

EVENINGS WITH PETER THE GREAT: A NEW BOOK BY DANIIL GRANIN

 
By V. Zherdeva
Daniil Granin, one of the patriarchs of Russian literature, has presented his new book Evenings With Peter The Great. The presentation ceremony took place in the Russian State Library.
Granin's novels raising acute social problems - Confronting The Thunderstorm (1958) about a scientist who defended his right for independent research, or The Auroch (1987) about the tragic destiny of the Russian geneticist Timofeyev-Resovsky - became classics of the Russian literature of the second half of the 20th century. His new book focuses on the extraordinary personality of the reformist tsar Peter I. "In my opinion, Peter I is the most enigmatic figure in Russian history", says Daniil Granin. "His name is surrounded with myths, stereotypes and fiction. In my book I portray Peter the way I see him. My idea of him is quite different from the habitual one".
The great and severe monarch 2 meters tall, entertaining himself profusely at the so-called assembly-balls, commanding the victorious navy, both the tyrant, and reformer.... It's this portrait of Peter that got imprinted on the minds of whole generations of Russians who read the novel Peter I by Alexei Tolstoy or saw Vladimir Petrov's film Peter I.
Granin's Peter is a philosopher rather than tyrant. Granin shows him not as an outstanding political leader, but as an ordinary man with his problems and weaknesses.
"My novel is partially documentary, partially fiction", says Granin. "The writer steps in where researcher steps out. The author's fantasy is not only appropriate, but even necessary".
The novel raises burning problems about Russia's future: what kind of ruler it needs in a crucial period in its history. To the author Peter seems an ideal reformist ruler. Under Peter Russia turned from a state "on the backyard of Europe" into a powerful empire. In Granin's opinion, it's this kind of ruler that Russia needs today .

"WHEN I'M PLAYING THE PIANO, I LOVE ALL PEOPLE" (Marking the centenary of the birth of the outstanding Russian pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky)

By G. Avdeeva
On May 8 we marked the birth centenary of the outstanding Russian pianist Valdimir Sofronitsky.
As a pianist, Sofronitsky is little known abroad. The only foreign countries he visited with concerts, in 1928-30, were Poland and France. This pianist is a unique phenomenon not to be compared with any other performer in the world. His art had numerous connections with early 20th-century Russian poetry, literature and painting, notably, Blok's poems, Vreubel paintings, and Grin's books.
Outwardly Vladimir Sofronitsky's life was uneventful: it had no surprises or events that would have changed radically his life. In 1920 he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatoire in the class of Leonid Nikolaev, an outstanding teacher and founder of a famous piano school. Though Sofronitsky inherited his teacher's high performing culture and skills of a virtuoso, his style makes it difficult to call him his teacher's follower. The pianist never participated in music competitions. Nor did he ever held any administrative or public post. Nor was he interested in writing about music. His entire "literary heritage" is a few statements, such as commentary on a cycle of historical concerts prepared by him in 1937-39 or his emotional words about his performance in the Nazi-blockaded Leningrad in December 1941. Teaching did not become his passion either, though he taught all his life. Very rarely he attended concerts of other performers and always sat hidden from the public. Just and direct assessing other pianists' performance, he was excellent at ranking musicians according to their stature, saying: "Liszt is Europe, Anton Rubinstein - the entire world, Rakhmaninov the Universe." One thing featured prominently in his life - concerts.
Sofronitsky had his audience, which gradually turned into a Sofronitsky brotherhood and followed its idol wherever he went. Magic began to work the moment he stepped onto the stage, tall and well-built. His appearance, his free movements were so perfect that there was no avoiding the association with ancient sculptures. He slowly approached the grand piano, made a quiet bow, not looking into the hall, and seated himself at the piano. Then a minute of apprehensive silence followed.
After his concerts no one could ever say "He's played like this before". His interpretations were never repeated. He could play the same piece twice, as was the case at a concert when he asked permission of the public to repeat a Chopin piece, which failed to please him. His second version was always different. Sofronitsky was an amazing master of improvisation. He used to say that before the concert he knows how he should play up to the last pause. And then added: "It's different during the concert. Things may be absolutely different." And he played always in a new and unexpected way.
Sofronitsky was drawn to dramatic aspects of life. This manifested itself in a phrase he once uttered: "I live without a skin". This attitude was also seen in the tragic expression of his face, which made his performances very special. At times he reached the highest point of expression, making people weep at his concerts. His performance of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Metner, and Prokofuev was remarkable for a share of exaltation, a generous feeling and lyricism. Sofronitsky kept in his memory and fingers hundreds of works and could announce several dozen concert programs never repeating them. His repertoire was truly limitless. Particularly talented were his interpretations of Chopin and Skryabin.
Skryabin was his favorite and spiritually closest composer. Not accidentally, Sofronistky married the composer's daughter. His poetic and inspired interpretation of Skryabin's music matched the composer's genius. Unfortunately, no recording can convey the impact Sofronitsky's live performance had on his audiences. Recordings were made secretly because the pianist hated the process. "It's not music," he used to exclaim with indignation. "These are all dead bodies!". The disparity between live performance and recordings made Sofronitsky furious.
As any great musician, Sofronitsky was a complicated and contradictory person. He believed in visitors from outer space and tried to understand the mystery of the other world. He was naive as a child, adored jokes, and could easily invent rhymes. He was well-informed of everything that happened in the world though during the last years of his life he almost did not leave home and drew on radio and newspapers for information. He was critical of himself but read every review about his performance and loved praise. Though he had enormous concert experience, he practically did not play with orchestras. He had only his love for music, to which he devoted his whole life. Only music, he believed, could elevate the soul. "I'm the best when I'm playing," he used to say. "Because when I'm playing, I love all people."
15 May 2001
 
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