People and events:

• TCHAIKOVSKY CONTEST
• THE PATH OF TRIUMPHS AND METAMORPHOSES (100 years since the World of Art association was formed )
• THE 75TH BIRTHDAY OF MSTERA LACQUERED MINIATURE

TCHAIKOVSKY CONTEST

By Natalya Viktorova

A traditional Tchaikovsky contest is underway in Russia. According to the Russian Minister of Culture Natalya Dementieva, the contest is a landmark in the musical life of the past few decades and has always evoked much response both in Russia and abroad. This year the contest is marking its 40th anniversary and is held among pianists, violinists, cellists and vocalists from all over the world. Competitions among the four types of performers take place every four years.
Every day the press centre of the contest hands out questionnaires and sums up estimates by independent experts. According to the results of the questionnaires, one of the leaders among foreign participants is Frederik Kempf.
The second round became especially interesting. Unlike the first and third rounds it presented a greater choice and more chances for the participants to express themselves. Of the 95 pianists 33 made it to the second round. Russian musicians are tradtionally among the strongest. The author of a book about the history of the Tchaikovsky contest Tamara Grum-Grzhimailo says: " I am proud of Russia. These days we hear music performed with much inspiration". What impressed the audience most was the performances by Sergei Tarasov and Vadim Rudenko. Tarasov is a diploma-winner and Rudenko is the third-prize laureat of the previous contests. Both decided to try again. Why?
- Perhaps, because the contest is my favourite one. - Vadim Rudenko says. - I am here again because it seems to me I haven't achieved what I was dreaming about ...
The contest is held in Moscow's four best concert halls and the third round among vocalists will be held at the Bolshoi Theatre. Though such contests are very complicated in terms of professional level the audience is getting ever more interested. The concerts are attended by children (mainly those who already study music) and their parents, pensioners and students for whom the entrance is free provided they show their student cards. The majority of listeners have something to do with music one way or another. Since the tickets are not expensive there are always people standing in a queue in front of the box-office. One of them says:
I am a teacher in a music school, - says Olga Zakharova. - Today I liked Vadim Rudenko. I prefer to listen to pianists. I live in the country. Of course, I'd like to come here regularly, like I come to work in the good sense of the word because it gives a lot of good both to your proffessional skills and just to your soul.
Among the violinists 17-year-old Pan Ichun of China was recognized the best for her performance of Prokofieff's sonata.
Violinists taking part in the current contest belong to various schools and have different opinions on music. In the second round performed 25 contesters from 10 countries. The most outstanding were four violinists from Japan and two from China, among them laureats of the world's most prestigious contests. Bin Huang of China is the first prize winner of the Venyavsky and Paganini contests. Kaoru Yamamoto of Japan won first prize at the Mendelssohn contest in Fribourg and second prize at the Viotti contest in Vercelli.
Right after the second round Kaoru told our correspondent that she had decided to take part in the current contest because it was famous and she took pleasure in participating in it. She said she liked playing Russian music and adored Russian audience.
The performance of Russian violinists was so impressive, efficient and mature that it was hard to single out the leader. The opinions divided: some liked Nikholai Sachenko, some Yelena Revich or Rodion Zamuruev, and some - Alexander Trostyansky. While the contest is still going on here is a play by Rodion Shchedrin performed by Yelena Revich of Russia. Vocalists were the last to join the competition. They were so many - 127 from 25 countries - that the program of the first round had to be shortened. The main contest was among singers from Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, countries from which the majority of the vocalists came from and which are traditionally famous for talented singers.
Former singer Alexander Petrov who now works as a teacher in Russia and France and heads the jury of the International Contest of vocalists in France, Bretagne, has this to say: - I attended every Tchaikovsky contest starting from the first one. I remember Jane Marche and Veronika Taylor who were wearing charming lemon-coloured dresses and I also remember young Maria Bieshu.... I like the first round because only at the first round you can get a lot of information about various schools and trends, hear interesting voices which, unfortunately, don't always make it to the next rounds. I mean diversity - both in this country and countries they come from.
And finally, a few words about the cellists. At the previous contest they won third and eighth prizes only, no one won first or second. Has the situation changed? Here is an opinion from accompanist Yevgeny Epstein. - I believe that this time the cellists are doing much better. They have to rehabilitate themselves after that incident with prizes. Hence they are eager to prove that the jury was unfair. And they are doing it quite well since their team is made up of the most prominent cellists from Russia and abroad .


THE PATH OF TRIUMPHS AND METAMORPHOSES

100 years since the World of Art association was formed

By Olga Bobrova
March, 1898. An exhibition of works by young, little known painters opens in St.Petersburg. The curious public fills the premises and stares in amazement: rainbows in Somov's landscapes are radiant with bright colors; the scenes of Versailles shine with magnificence in Benois' pictures; Vrubel's Demon is clouded in mystery and exudes mystical force. The spirit of individuality and refined beauty reigns at the exhibition. The artists seem to be engaged in an intellectual game with the visitors, inviting them to a world of fantasy and dreams removed from gross realities. This is how the World of Art association emerged in Russia. Its 100th anniversary is one of this year's most significant jubilees. It is reflected in UNESCO's cultural calendar.
The last decades of the 19th century were the time, when "gloom and slumber reigned in Russian hearts", as the well-known poet Alexander Blok put it. The World of Art painters were young then. "In this century everyone depicts something sordid. But I prefer joyous things!" said one of them. His desire was shared by young members of St.Petersburg's artistic circles. Alexander Benois, Konstantin Somov, Leo Bakst, Yevgeny Lancerai, Mstislav Dobuzhinski - all of them came from families of high culture: Benois' grandfather was the architect who designed the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Mariinski in St.Petersburg; Somov's father was the curator of the Hermitage. As Benois said, piety toward the very notion of culture was fostered in them since childhood. They subscribed to numerous art journals printed abroad, and never missed theater premieres. University students, they were obsessed with the idea of self-education, and joined in a group to study literature, music, history, philosophy, theater, not to mention painting - the art they were all gifted in. They viewed the Academy of Arts with its conservatism and routine as their main adversary. They also rejected nationalist sentiments reflected in paintings by leading Russian artists. They were all pro-western.
There were also purely practical reasons why the group of young rebels turned into the big World of Art association. As Benois recalled later, many young artists did not know what to do. Big exhibitions rejected their works. Then acknowledged artists joined the unacknowledged, hatred for all that was obsolete and stuffy linking them. This is how, to spite the leading Russian artists, an exhibition presenting new names and fresh trends in art was mounted in St.Petersburg in March of 1898. The local painters were joined by Vrubel, Levitan, Serov - rather well-known artists from Moscow. Their "collective talent" brightened the first public appearance of the World of Art. However it met not only with enthusiasm, but also with indignation. The venerable critic Vladimir Stasov, for one, described the debut of the World of Art as an orgy of debauchery and insanity. A few years passed, and these artists came to be admired. And now, 100 years later, experts see a special style in works by the World of Art members. Art critic Natalia Trifonova has this to say:
Their style was formed on the basis of synthesizing contemporary western art and addressing the past times - the turn of the 18th century. They created the retro style. Each of them had his own perception of the time they lived in: Somov sceptical, Benois ironic, Lancerai serious, Dobuzhinski dramatic.
The World of Art painters felt the need to proclaim their ideas and explain them to society, not only exhibit their works. People of good education, they could not only paint, but also write well, particularly Alexander Benois, who can be described as the founder of art criticism in Russia. A few months after the exhibition, in the autumn of 1898, they began to publish the World of Art magazine. Its very first issue amazed its readers, who had seen nothing like that in Russia before. The magazine itself was a work of art; its emblem was a lone eagle on the top of a mountain. The author of the emblem, Leo Bakst, said: "The World of Art is higher than everything earthly - it reigns amidst stars, mysterious and haughty, like an eagle on a snowy mountain top."
The World of Art magazine was as universal, as the interests of artists involved in the association. It printed polemic articles on literature, theater, music, philosophy. Its soul, its editor, was the famous patron of arts Sergei Diaghilev, who was also known as an organizer of exhibitions and a man who could materialize any fantastic idea. These were his first steps as a patron of arts, but nevertheless he was nicknamed Napoleon for his drive and the scope of his ambitions. Ten years later Diaghilev will bring Russian arts to Europe and conquer it.
At the beginning of the 20th century the World of Art was already a powerful movement in arts. It seemed at that time that it would continue to build up its strength. But its progress was halted by an insurmountable reef: the first Russian revolution broke out in 1905. It marked the beginning of an era the arts could hardly flourish in. The publication of the World of Art magazine stopped; exhibitions ended. Differing moods prevailed among the artists themselves: some went abroad, others remained in Russia in the belief that they had to support the revolutionary forces. As Benois said, "the artists went each to his own corner, and engaged in self-admiration." According to him, under the circumstances they could be united only by what was referred to as school. A striking metamorphosis, wasn't it? School, tradition, the Academy of Art - the things the World of Art used to oppose - were now seen as a haven, as the only hope. There was also Europe. The quiet, prosperous Europe could give shelter to Russian art at the time of revolutionary upheavals. As a matter of fact, Europe itself wanted it, needing an infusion of new creative forces and fresh ideas. And it found them at the exhibition of Russian paintings, at the concerts of Russian music organized by Diaghilev in Paris in 1906, and at the so-called Russian Seasons, which united painters, performers and musicians beginning with 1909.
These Russians! They have become an event, a shock, a surprise, a vortex, said a French academician.
Russian Seasons were connected largely with ballet producer Sergei Diaghilev, singer Fyodor Shalyapin, dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaclav Nijinsky, choreographer Mikhail Fokin, composer Igor Stravinsky. In the meantime the idea of such seasons belonged to the World of Art painters Benois, Bakst, Dobuzhinski, and Rerikh, Golovin and Korovin, who shared their views. Russian artists showed the world what theater scenery treated as an art was like. They showed the significance of a performance, in which all its components merged into a single work of art. Such a performance was Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka" designed by Benois. That masterpiece became the starting point for 20th-century theater.
The World of Art painters created a world of their own indeed. They filled all that surrounded man with beauty: they designed furniture, ceramics and postcards. They raised bookmaking to an unheard of level. As if with reference to them their famous contemporary, poet Alexander Blok said: "Painting, music, prose, poetry are inseparable in Russia, and philosophy, religion and even politics are inalienable from them. Together they form a powerful stream, which carries the precious burden of national culture .

An exhibition of Mstera lacquered miniature opened recently in the Museum of Folk Arts in Moscow. The exhibition was timed for the 75th anniversary of the craft.

The first articles created in the 1920s combine religious and secular subjects, for one, a diptych painted like an icon: the left part depicts an old man who is praying and gold coins are falling on his head from the sky. The inscription reads as follows: "Every dark cloud has a silver lining". The right part shows the legendary Russian saint - St.George piercing a dragon with a spear. And the inscription here is "Down with capitalism".