The prominent Russian composer of the 20th century Georgy Sviridov
would have turned 90 on December 16th.
"This is a Russian genius who has yet to see really high acclaim.
His legacy will add considerably to the forthcoming revival of Russian
culture", - Academician Dmitry
Likhachev wrote about Sviridov.
For nearly three decades Georgy Sviridov's "Time, Forward!"
served an inspiring signature tune to the only news program in one sixth
of the globe, the former USSR. And it was that very tune that unlike the
following verbal and video information gave people the idea of TIME.
Georgy Sviridov once remarked: "The time we lived in is unprecedented
in the scope and number of events. The 20th century has brought in storms,
upheavals and mind-boggling experiences. 20th century music filled with
tension and concern for life on the planet and the future of humanity.
And the 20th century also brought unparalleled strength and grandeur of
spirit, the new idea of moral values and the undying striving for virtue
and light. It returned us into categories of the eternal".
The timeless ideas of goodness, so intrinsic to the Russian national
character, formed the foundation of Georgy Sviridov's works.
"Underlying Sviridov's works is the song, - the Director of the
Sviridov Institute Alexander Belonenko says. - Sviridov thought that the
song as the only viable musical genre has adapted to the new conditions,
unlike symphony and opera, which are in a state of crisis. In choral and
chamber vocal music Sviridov discovered an unusual novelty, which made
him different from the old school and at the same time kept him in touch
with the classical tradition. Sviridov is a contemporary composer, who
stays loyal to music so loved by the listener".
Georgy Sviridov's career path took more than six decades. In the 1940s
he is a composer of neo-classical school, close to his teacher Dmitry Shostakovich
and greatly influenced by him. His heyday as a master fell on the mid50s
after the premiere of "The Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin".
"The Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin" is a work by mature
Sviridov, with its own musical language and Russian flavour, which immediately
struck both the music lovers and professional musicians, - Alexander Belonenko
continues. - Dmitry Shostakovich noticed that - "few notes, a lot
of music", and so did Igor Stravinski as he listened to the piece
in Petersburg in 1962".
Georgy Sviridov addressed a whole myriad of genres - chamber, symphony,
oratorio, choir, film music and romance. And in each of the genres he created
masterpieces. The starting point in writing a piece was a poetic line,
the highly artistic expression, which makes Sviridov a true artist.
Alexander Belonenko says: "Sviridov was a knowledgeable man brilliantly
informed of domestic and foreign poetry. Russian poetry was just stored
in his memory ready to grow into lines and tunes in moments of inspiration.
Following that were years or even decades of backbreaking effort to filigree
the opus. For more than 20 years Sviridov published none of "Chants
and Prayers", a series of choral compositions on canonical Orthodox
texts".
Alexander Belonenko has made a full catalogue of Sviridov's works in
30 volumes. 15 of them are yet unknown to the public. Among them are oratorios,
cantatas, choral and vocal compositions and operettas. And awaiting publication
is the enormous epistolary legacy. The so-called sound archive of Georgy
Sviridov has been preserved too with recordings of pieces in his own performance
and his interviews and "reflections aloud".
Georgy Sviridov's music found a ready response in the participants
of the ongoing Russian festival marking the composer's 90th birthday. The
grandiose event, embracing 13 cities across Russia, took a start in Sviridov's
native city of Kursk in September and will last until February 2006 drawing
in an ever greater number of performers. The performers of Sviridov's music
include both the master interpreters of his works, such as Conductors Vladimir
Minin, Vladislav Chernushenko and Vladimir Fedoseev, and young musicians
from remote corners of Russia. The nationwide action was organized by the
President of the Sviridov Foundation Alexander Belonenko.
"I'd like Russia to feel one undivided whole, - he says. - Russia
is a great nation, and even though it might press on you this greatness
shapes our consciousness. When you Kamchatka and then you see the gulf
of cold Finnish rocks near Petersburg you experience an unusual sensation.
Sviridov felt it too. He glorified Russia as no one before him. He sang
of Russia as a whole and of separate corners of it so dear to each of us.
Love-saturated works by Georgy Sviridov evoke a hearty response from the
public. Music for the few which became music for all is what makes Sviridov's
ideal".
NEW PROGRAM OF "PRATUM INTEGRUM"
ORCHESTRA
O.Bugrova
The Moscow Chamber Orchestra "Pratum Integrum" presents a
Christmas program featuring unknown in Russia works by Italian Baroque
masters.
Set up in 2003, the orchestra plays old music mostly. The group is
Russia's only orchestra playing every kind of historical instrument in
the original form or in exact replicas. Members of the orchestra are the
recent graduates of the Moscow Conservatory who underwent training in European
musical academies. The Latin name "Pratum Integrum" if translated
means "unplowed meadow" and serves a metaphor for unexplored
musical material.
Central in the work of "Pratum Integrum" is a search for
the new. The musicians spend hours in archives digging for unknown pieces
by 17th-18th century composers, which they then perform in the manner of
the time. They are driven by the pioneering spirit and the desire to make
the man of the past closer to the present by telling of him with the liveliness
and ardor of his native musical tongue distinguished by the now forgotten
peculiarities of musical expression. "Music is not a dust-covered
something from an old library", - the performers say.
In the past three years "Pratum Integrum" has performed dozens
of works, built its own audience and won considerable authority in the
international musical midst. The orchestra is in cooperation with such
prominent figures in historical performance as the British harpsichordist
and conductor Trevor Pinnock, the Belgian director and violinist Sigisvald
Kojken and lead singers from the Norwegian group "Bergen Baroq".
Next on "Pratum Integrum"'s performance program is a concert
with the intriguing name "Courteous Dance". The musicians will
be playing foreign composers who lived at the Russian imperial court in
the 18th century. The concert will take place in January next year.
Dmitry
Likhachev wrote about Sviridov. 
