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The Rassvet Culture House is organizing a concert series, Schoenberg 150, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of composer Arnold Schoenberg's birth. In the program, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Okolobakha Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maxim Betechtin performed two iconic works by Schoenberg, including two miniatures and the famous Pierrot Lunaire (soloist - Alisa Ten). Ilya Ovchinnikov was present at the concert.
Those who had the opportunity to hear the oratorio "The Song of the Chicken" in the Tchaikovsky Hall a month ago will confirm that Schoenberg's music is not at all dissonant, gloomy and destructive, as is commonly believed. It is a familiar story, although "sung" in a new way. Perhaps it was this concert that convinced some listeners to take an interest in the cycle "Schoenberg 150" in the DK "Rassvet" under the direction of the musicians of the Okolovaki Chamber Orchestra. The subscription includes five concerts, three of which are entirely dedicated to Schoenberg. Young, not yet famous, but certainly ambitious and purposeful performers do not set themselves an easy task and do not "dilute" Schoenberg with more popular music.
Of course, this cycle cannot do without Schoenberg's most performed work, the sextet "Enlightened Night". According to the author of the site Bachtrack, who knows almost everything about concerts around the world, the work will be performed more than 20 times around the world. Over the next year. But if we talk about the composition of the current program, the cycle "Pierrot Lunaire" is performed eight times a year, the Serenade op. 24 is one of them, and Bachtrack says nothing at all about both objections. Can we say that this approach to programming is uncompromising? Yes. If we consider that the script is not a box office hit and requires long rehearsals. No - if we talk about the fact that Schoenberg's work itself no longer seems as radical as it was considered a century and a half ago, when a fight broke out during the premiere performance.
Schoenberg said of his 12-tone composition method that it was “a discovery that will ensure the dominance of German music for the next 100 years,” but he was wrong. But he, his students and followers changed and expanded our understanding of beauty. Today, music written according to their precepts has long been accepted in the world of theater, cinema and even animation, as before, but without harm to hearing. Knowing this, the musicians of the Okolovaki Orchestra begin their program with the Serenade, one of Schoenberg’s most beautiful works. But some of them can be sung by only a few (except for baritone Konstantin Suchkov, who participates in one of the parts). bar. Schoenberg skillfully uses a unique composition that includes violin, viola, cello, clarinet and bass clarinet, as well as guitar and mandolin. These two instruments give the cold sound of the ensemble a certain informality and even folk character.
Despite its complex rhythmic structure, Serenade contains many references to waltzes, marches, minuets and rands, and its language may seem complicated at first. However, listening to the recording, it is difficult to imagine seven people going on stage and performing the same song live. But Okolovaki's orchestra shows that this is possible even at the highest level. Perhaps the word "uncompromising" would be more appropriate for the composition "Escape of Reason", which was first performed in Russia. Just as Schoenberg was radical when he ordered hundreds of actors to perform "The Song of Gura", so here he is very radical when he creates a three-minute vocal miniature for soprano (this part is performed by Natalia Smirnova). , heroically overcoming unimaginable "leaps" to the top), harp, harmonium and celesta. Not a composition, but a headache (unlike the stunningly beautiful music): what promoter would not benefit from bringing these instruments to the hall for 3 or even 33 minutes? What is a performer? But the soloists of the Okolovaki Orchestra did not hesitate to assemble it, including showing the audience how "Pierrot Lunaire" grows from these seeds.
Considered one of the most important scores of the 20th century, this score is as legendary as Schoenberg's. One of the reasons for this is the use of the Sprechgesang technique, called "talking singing", which is on the border between vocals and declamation. Igor Stravinsky even said that recordings of Pierrot Lunaire should be published without solo parts, so that everyone could "add their own howls". There is also a bit of envy here. Although Pierrot is performed by only five musicians (piano, violin/viola, cello, piccolo flute and clarinet/bass clarinet), it is a score of astonishing simplicity, expressiveness and transparency. It is no coincidence that the composition itself has become a classic; literally hundreds of them have been and are being created. The soloist in Pierrot was Alisa Ten, an actress and singer of a very broad profile, who brilliantly performs baroque music, minimalism, the latest contemporary compositions and 20th century classics.
The 21-part cycle seemed unusually complete, but there were some special successes here too. For example, there is the Chopin Waltz, which is completely different from Chopin’s waltzes, the lyrical Nostalgia, and the almost Schubert-like Return. The Homeland and the final O Aroma of Distant Years sound ominous and doomed. Both the performers and the audience were so inspired that Maxim Betechtin almost forgot the last number, the recently discovered Nocturne for Harp and Strings. This is clearly the earliest of Schoenberg’s surviving works, and even the late Romanticism of Enlightened Night is still a long way off. Here we see a devoted Brahms fan paying a small tribute to Viennese classicism in general. The violin part was superbly performed by the soloist of the Questa Musica ensemble, Mikhail Feyman. Showing the audience what Schoenberg could have been was a wonderful end to the program.