Anniversary concert of Rodion Shchedrin will be held in Moscow
Anniversary concerts of Rodion Shchedrin, the largest Russian composer, a living classic, are a good tradition of the Moscow Philharmonic: since 2007 they have been held every five years.
Among their regular participants are conductor Valery Gergiev, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, pianist Denis Matsuev, the Academic Grand Choir "Masters of Choral Singing" of radio "Orpheus". They present a panorama of the main genres of Shchedrin's work - a piano concerto with an orchestra, choral music, a concerto for an orchestra, a ballet - on the day of the composer's 90th birthday, December 16th.
The anniversary celebrations in 2022 will be held with the support of the Rosconcert Touring and Concert Center.
Rodion Shchedrin is one of those figures that in themselves personify the national music of several decades. Outstanding composer whose compositions are heard all over the world; a pianist with whom major performers are honored to perform; the author of memoirs about great musicians, their friend and colleague - all these words are not enough to indicate the scale of Rodion Shchedrin's personality.
Operas Not Only Love, Dead Souls, Lolita, ballets Carmen Suite, The Seagull, Anna Karenina, Lady with a Dog, Concert No. 1 for orchestra Mischievous Chastushkas, Musical offering”: these are just some of his works, the premieres of which became events and each of which can be called legendary without exaggeration.
“The path in art that he has traveled cannot but arouse admiration,
- writes Ekaterina Vlasova, Doctor of Art History, Professor of the Moscow Conservatory.
– Not only because the Russian school of composers has been represented in the world for more than six decades and his name. Not because his musical theater - the Shchedrin Theater - is already in history, and his twelve opera and ballet opuses have become a fertile basis for new directorial experiments and reflections of theater and music historians. The very name “Shchedrin” has become one of the symbols of modern Russia… Its spiritual history is made up of such names.”
Since 2007, the Moscow Philharmonic has been holding concerts of the music of Rodion Shchedrin every five years with the participation of groups and performers devoted to him. Among them are the P. I. Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Russia named after E. F. Svetlanov, the Russian National Orchestra, violist Yuri Bashmet, cellists David Geringas, Boris Andrianov, oboist Alexei Ogrinchuk, violinists Nikita Borisoglebsky, Pavel Milyukov, pianists Olli Mustonen, Alexei Volodin, Ekaterina Mechetina - and, of course, Rodion Shchedrin himself.
Among the compositions performed over the years were rarities, including "Poetoria" on the verses of Andrei Voznesensky, the cantata "Lenin in the heart of the people", Concerto dolce for viola, string orchestra and harp, and a number of Russian premieres - "Beethoven's Heiligenstadt testament" , "Cleopatra and the Serpent", Concerto for oboe and orchestra.
On the day of Shchedrin's 90th birthday, Valery Gergiev will also spend the evening at the podium presenting his best compositions to the public. Three of them can be classified as the composer's visiting cards: "Carmen Suite", "Naughty Chastushkas" and a suite from the ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse". Although the program does not include opera among Shchedrin's favorite genres, the Russian liturgy "The Sealed Angel" for choir a cappella is close to it.
The program ends with the Second Piano Concerto, which at one time shocked the audience with a combination of elements of dodecaphony and jazz; it will be performed by Denis Matsuev, another member of Rodion Shchedrin's inner circle. In this work, the composer especially clearly showed himself as a bold experimenter, whose search continues today.