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A VIOLIN CORYPHAUS
(Victor Tretiakov's 55th birthday)

On October 16 the internationally famous Russian violinist and conductor Victor Tretiakov turned 55.
In 1966 he scored a brilliant success at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition, enthralling the audience by his fantastic performance of Paganini's violin concerto.
Tretiakov's conservatory professor Yuri Yankelevich used to tell his disciples that one important thing they should always remember was that violin was a singing instrument. In Tretiakov's magic hands it, indeed, sings, producing a tuneful, richly-textured sound even during tempestuous allegros. One peculiarity about Tretiakov is that he displays admirable self-control while on stage, yet remains very emotional. Artistry flows in his veins.
An exceptionally harmonious personality, Victor Tretiakov is particularly drawn to monumental pieces full of dramatism and collisions mixed with subtle tenderness and passionate lyricism.
A man of many talents, he plays the piano excellently, which is rather untypical of a violinist. For many years he has been teaching at the Moscow conservatory and of late he has been running violin classes at the Higher Music School in Cologne. Tretiakov's concerts invariably gather crowds of music lovers. Regrettably, as he now resides in Germany, he appears less frequently in Russia. We offered our congratulations to him by telephone and asked about his plans.
"Later this months I will play Tchaikovsky's concerto in Bordeaux, France", Tretiakov said. "And in November I will come to Moscow. Since I have to spend quite a lot of time with my students in Cologne, my concert activity is less intensive. But my repertory preferences are the same, except, perhaps, that I now play more chamber music. Yuri Bashmet and Natalia Gutman are my favorite and long-time partners. We don't only work together, we are friends".
A Moscow musician once said about Tretiakov: "It looks like his destiny has been guided by "supreme forces" that keep supplying him with energy he expends in great quantities without even noticing it…" Asked whether he should take care of himself and focus on the most important things, Tretiakov answered: "I wouldn't say that some of my work is the most important, while another is the most difficult. All I do is important and all is difficult. Whatever I play - Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich - everything has its own peculiarities, difficulties and attractions. This is the magnetism of the art: it draws you in and keeps you there but it also makes you very happy" .
 

SIMPLE TRUTHS FROM MIKHAIL VELLER
(an interview with the writer)

Mikhail Veller is one of the most widely-read representatives of the so-called "intellectual prose". His books "The Adventures Of Major Zviagin", "The Legends Of The Nevsky Avenue", "The Samovar" and others are both amusing and profoundly philosophic. Veller belongs to a less numerous group of writers who depict dramatic life collisions in an easily comprehensible yet perfect literary form.
Veller's first book, a selection of short stories titled "I Want To Be A Yard-Sweeper", came out in 1983. "There are people who want to want to know everything and those who are sick of what they already know. The latter say nothing to prevent things from turning for the worse, while the former interfere in all, hoping to make things better", Veller wrote in one of his novellas. Evidently, he himself sides with those who hope to improve this world. Veller is an interesting person to talk with, especially about literature.
- Do you believe critics who say that contemporary Russian literature is going through a crisis?
- The 20th century didn't see any major upturns in Russian culture. Nothing produced in the 20th century can compare with the great musical and literary achievements of the 19th century. Contemporary literature is inferior to best classical works by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. But it's a common trend for all European literature. As for the "weeping" of critics, most of them would like to become writers, but for some or other reason have failed. Critics have always complained that literature is either poor or there is none at all. The same thing happened in the times of Tolstoy and Chekhov. They were largely underestimated during their lifetime.
- Have your come across such a thing as misunderstanding?
- In my opinion, anyone who fought his way to literature in the 70s and didn't give up would answer positively. Those were the times of the so-called "stagnation" when literature was pervaded by ideology. I wrote sarcastic stories about the Soviet way of life, aware that they wouldn't be published because editors feared losing their posts. Within two and a half years I received some 200 official rejections. At first I kept them, but one day threw them all into the dustbin.
- How do young writes find their way to readers nowadays?
- Today everyone has a chance: if editors and publishing firms reject your first book, then you can publish it at your own cost. This is the main achievement and a positive side of the freedom we now enjoy.
- Things are simpler now for the young generation - no ideological barriers. Yet, there are few really talented writers. Is it due to lack of inspiration?
- Inspiration left aside, one must have talent and acquire the necessary skills. For instance, Leo Tolstoy wrote according to a plan, thoroughly elaborating all plot lines. His novels reveal well thought-out compositional decisions. Desire should assume a concrete shape.
- So what should a person know and be able to do if wants to become a writer?
- As far as I understand, it's not a physical need. If you are brought to an uninhabited island and convinced that no one will ever see, let alone read your books, I am sure you won't write anything. There are only two teachers for a would-be writer: life and library. One must honest to oneself and admit that others writer better than him, and try to learn from them. And then, if you have talent, you may turn out something decent .
 

THE MOSCOW MEDICI
(It is 160 years since the birth of Savva Mamontov)

By Andrusenko
Contemporaries called Savva Mamontov "Savva the Magnificent" likening him to Duke Lorenzo de' Medici who was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent. But Savva Mamontov was more than a patron of arts and letters. He was a businessman as well, and his contribution to both the national economy and the arts was equally great.
One of the four sons of the merchant and railway industrialist Ivan Mamontov, Savva was destined to be his father's successor in business. He showed interest in railroads as a child and got a versatile education. In his free time he enjoyed taking part in performances at a theatre studio. But his father frowned on this, and so sent him, first to Persia and later to Italy to study European trade practices. In Italy, the heir to the Mamontov business suddenly revealed a fine operatic voice and talent as a sculptor. After studying with Italian teachers of voice, he was invited to sing in a Milan theatre. As for his abilities as sculptor, the renowned sculptor Mark Antakolsky remarked in a letter that Savva Mamontov was one of the most charming people with the soul of an artist that he had ever met. In Rome he began to model and was a great success. But Savva Mamontov could not quit his business and devote himself entirely to the arts. Nevertheless, they remained an important passion of his life.
In Italy Savva Mamontov made friends with Russian artists who lived there on scholarships from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Away from Russia, they felt keenly that an artist should breath the air of his Motherland to create canvasses national in spirit. At that time there was no Russian national tradition in painting, the National Academy of Arts was dominated by Western European traditions. When Savva Mamontov opened his business in Moscow he wrote to his friends in Rome:" You will not make a mistake if you settle down in Moscow. Moscow is a source of unique and fresh impressions for an artist." Shortly a closely-knit family of artists settled down in his Moscow house and his estate in Abramtsevo. Repin, Serov, Vasnetsov, Nesterov, Vrubel and many others could work in Abramtsevo carefree. An untiring searcher of new talents, Mamontov was surrounded with the atmosphere of creative endevour. But for that atmosphere many canvasses which form the golden collection of Russian art could have not been painted. Nor a collection of folk arts could have been formed. Mamontov's friends, artists, toured ancient Russian towns in a search of household utensils used by peasants in their everyday life. They gathered a collection that formed the basis of Russia's first museum of folk arts. They studied architecture. What encouraged their interest in the subject was the idea of building a church in Abramtsevo in the traditions of ancient Russian architecture. Ceramics workshops were also opened in Abramtsevo. Their output enjoyed world's acclaim. Say, some ceramic pieces won the gold medal at the 1900 Exhibition in Paris. Savva Mamontov himself made sculptures and studied majolica. Artists treated him as one of them; he was also a source of fresh ideas. Artists often wondered how he could have an interest in railroads and financial matters. In their turn, his collegues in the railway business feared that his involvement in arts could interfere with the business. Mamontov assured them that imagination was required in financial matters, too. Mamontov could see "a spring underground"--this appears to be his phenomenon. The railroads that he constructed were run at profit whereas people who were less far-sighted considered it a waste of money to build railways in the remote parts of Russia.
The debute of "The Russian Private Opera" also drew criticism of Mamontov's opponents. The "Private opera" is believed to be Mamontov's main contribution to arts. Actually, he was the first to introduce to the opera stage genuine national culture, and it was the key-note in clothes, decorations, music and plots. "The Private Opera" also began in Abramtsevo, in a studio that prepared the un-heard of blossom of the Russian theatre. Mamontov was the soul of the "Private Opera"; he acted as a stage director, a conductor and a teacher of voice; he even made actors up. The main thing that was entirely new was Mamontov's principle to "sing acting". The alternative opera theatre revealed to the world masterpieces of Russian composers -Mussorgsky, Rimski-Korsakov and Borodin, and the great bass - Fyodor Shalyapin.
The first success of the "Private Opera" in the Russian province was followed by a triumph in Moscow. Mamontov was seen as a trend-setter by Russian cultural figures of his time. Unexpectedly, everything ended in a collapse. Mamontov was unjustly accused of embezzlement and arrested. The trial in 1900 was a kind of his one-man performance. He was acquitted by the efforts of the country's cultural intellectuals. Yet by that time Savva the Magnificent was sick and broke. The rest of his life he remained in the background.
The "highway" in the Russian art opened by Mamontov has survived its creator. His artistic principles were further developed, notably, by Sergei Dyagilev who sponsored the renowned "Russian seasons" in Paris, London and Latin America. They revealed to the world the names of Russians of the next generation, those of choreographer Mikhail Fokin, artist Leon Bakst and composer Igor Stravinsky.
Once Savva Mamontov said "I was rich, but I gave up everything since I believed that money was required to ensure prosperity of the nation, money cannot be the aim of a person's life."

A NEW ALBUM OF THE VIVALDI ORCHESTRA

 V.Semichastnov
"Vivaldi-orchestra" is a well-known Russian group under Svetlana Bezrodnaya. The prototype for it was the orchestra of the women's conservatoire in San-Pieta, Venezia, under the great Italian maestro Antonio Vivaldi.
"Antonio Vivaldi was not an ordinary man. He was not only a priest but a man of progressive views." Svetlana Bezrodnaya adds: "He was a padre and a professor of music. Unfortunately, compositions that he wrote for young women playing in his orchestra were never performed on any stage. I wanted to create a women's orchestra and materialize the design of the great maestro".
"Vivaldi-orchestra" comprises 18 charming women who play violin, viola, cello and even double bass. On the stage they wear fancy dresses which remind audiences of the time of Vivaldi. Annually the orchestra gives over 100 concerts; musicians made many recordings and prepared several compact discs. A pleasant surprise for the admirers of the orchestra was a new album prepared jointly with the "Russky sezon", or Russian season, company. It comprises classical miniatures and popular tangoes of the 20th century. The artistic leader of the orchestra Svetlana Bezrodnaya explains: "Our repertoire is broad: we play music of various styles and epoches. The selection of compositions is not casual. Tango is a unique stratum in musical culture. My attitude to tango is special. Tango reminds me of my parent's life. I devoted to them and all people of their generation one of the album's discs. We have recorded wonderful music of Alexander Vertinsky, Oskar Strok, Leonid Utesov and other popular authors of the mid-20th century. In their music there is everything - a whirl of passions, love and tenderness."
Svetlana Bezpodnaya graduated from the violin department of the Moscow Coservatoire. In 1989 she created and headed the Vivaldi-orchestra" which toured many countries of the world. Her artistic interests are versatile. Say, she was an artistic director of art festivals devoted to world-famous choreographers Igor Moiseyev and Valdimir Vasiliyev.
The new album of the "Vivaldi-orchestra" comprises compositions of Strauss, Corelli, Kreisler and Mozart, Svetlana Bezrodnaya's favourite composer. By the way, music of this classic is among her recent discoveries. This is what she says:" At concerts my orchestra plays "Magic. flute" which Mozart did not compose for the opera stage. This is a kind of suite on operatic themes arranged by Mozart himself for an orchestra. I unexpectedly found sheet music of this composition in the Russian State Library. I was the first to perform that charming music at concerts." The premire of Mozart's unusual composition took place in the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, later it was performed during the orchestra's tours in Germany, Austria, Finland and the United States.
Svetlana Bezrodnaya and her orchestra do not give only concerts, among their new projects are theatre performances involving the orchestra, ballet dancers, jazzmen and actors. Svetlana Bezrodnaya is acting as a stage director of the performance. This is what she says: "I want the audience to percieve verses, choreography and everything that happens on the stage through music. And what matters most, I want to get the audience involved in the world that I create on the stage. We love those who come to our performances and concerts; for them we play and act."
 30.10.2001
 
 
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