Rodion Shchedrin - Poets and Musicians On Rodion Shchedrin

Poets and Musicians On Rodion Shchedrin

• "Once Giya Kancheli, a composer dressed in a velvety dark blue double-breasted jacket and with similarly velvety eyes, after a premiere to which he came from Germany, said the following words to me about Rodion Shchedrin: “This is a significant composer, possibly, the greatest composer alive in the world”. Being used to the jealous babble of my colleagues, I was staggered. Shchedrin is the big Russian letter “shch” (Щ) in Russian music. This letter does not exist in any other alphabet – either in English, or in German. His relentless new music is powerful, poignant and always cringing from pain or from laughter. The great Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Schnittke and Stockhausen had worked in the realities of the 20th century. Shchedrin practically transported himself along with all of us physically into the 21st century. What an immense talent one must have in order to create treasures out of the trash and horror of our lives! Go, Shchedrin, go!” Andrei Voznesensky
• “His ingenuous sensation of orchestral color has manifested itself not only in the immensely popular First Piano Concerto, “Naughty Rhymes” and “Carmen Suite.” Professional musicians call him the king of contemporary orchestra, having in mind the utmost expressivity of sound that is present in his music, along with an utmost concentration and economy of means. His compositions have been played by the best performers of the world, such as Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Olli Mustonen and Maxim Vengerov. I especially esteem his rejection of compromises, even during the times which were especially difficult for Russian music. He has always been an innovator in music and was not afraid to demonstrate publicly his utmost support for any deviations from the ‘official Soviet course in music.’” Mstislav Rostropovich
• “During this season I hope to acquaint as wide an audience as possible with the new production at the Mariinsky Theater of ‘Dead Souls.’ This is Rodion Shchedrin’s great opera and, incidentally, I am not the only person who ranks this work along with Prokofiev’s “War and Peace” and Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.” From the first minute we see ourselves in Gogol’s characters, how we live, how frightful we are, and how we have become so. It is astounding, but now, in 2011, this opera is perceived much more acutely than it was in the late 1970s, when it was premiered. Gogol possessed a fascinating sense of sight and hearing. Only he could view and depict Russia in such a well-aimed manner. Many people who attended the performance of the opera were struck how topical the plot was today. The themes of the betrayers of Christ, as well as the line that “there only one honest person in the company, the prosecutor, but even he, honestly speaking, is a pig” sounded as timely in the present day as they did back then. The audiences laughed in those moments, but in reality it was themselves they laughed at. And then they pondered on the fact that almost two centuries have passed since the time of the novel’s setting, whereas so little has changed since then”. Valery Gergiev “One Must Have the Wish to Learn the Culture of Others,” “Argumenty i fakty,” 2011, 20 April. Interview with N. Zyatkov.
• “Shchedrin is a master of orchestration, combinations of sound, orchestral colors and sudden effects. Upon first encounter the musical material seems to be deceivingly simple. However, the skilful refinement of his language leads us into the depths of the music which is filled with luminescence, irony, humor, cheerfulness and genuine comicalness…” Lorin Maazel
• “His music is lasting, and its popularity will only increase with the times. Great personalities always set the tone of their times. The new is not always palatable for contemporaries, and this has been a usual occurrence. For me Rodion is a token figure. He is a great composer. The time of his total recognition is still in the future. I am certain that his music will be performed all the time and everywhere. The main thing is that his creative output has always been tied with Russian folklore. He is a national, Russian composer. I love his music a lot, and I respect him as a pianist and as my great friend”. Sergei Dorensky
• “I can say that my auditory sense was unusually enraptured with his ‘Carmen Suite.’ For me this is an absolutely delightful work, since here the peculiar transfer of the music into modernity does not distort the material which is familiar to everybody. On the other hand, the music kisses the music. They exist in a gentle union which is not at all offensive to the ear”. Bella Akhmadulina
• “A combination of brilliant wit and a profound sense of drama, delicate thought and powerful construction, a brave, at times even a bold type of experiment and the constancy of the Russian national tradition, multiply enhanced by the greatest compositional technique – this has always fascinated and continues to fascinate me in Rodion Shchedrin’s musical output.” ''Mikhail Pletnyov
• “Rodion Shchedrin has bestowed upon the New York Philharmonic a masterpiece which shall be added to the number of musical works composed lately that have greatly enriched the repertoire of classical music. The opera’s plot is magnificent. There is an abundance of theatrical material in it. It features a parable, both passionate sensuous love side by side with the platonic kind, the frightful sin of murder and retribution for it, Tatar captivity and torture, the delirium tremens of main character who is pursued by the phantom of a monk flogged by him to death, an admirable Gypsy girl and a cruel prince. Shchedrin weaves together all the threads of this plot into an absorbing musical fabric”… It is joyful to witness a composer who writes real music and not simply an assortment of sounds which attract the attention to their creator simply because he is celebrated and famous… How many times I had the occasion of witnessing how certain haughty composers with their rhetorical pretensions to creating their so-called ‘music of the future’ disappeared without a trace, notwithstanding the titanic efforts of their frantic followers. It is joyful to perceive that fortune bestowed upon me a rather long life and the opportunity of being a participant of the occurred event”. Lorin Maazel
• “‘Pugachev’s Execution’ is one my favorite works by Shchedrin. His language, as is usually the case with Rodion, is truthful and vivid. The clear-cut architectonics of the episodes, the free technique of the letter, the skilful intertwinement of the voices – all of this makes the music of “Pugachev” perfect. Here there is nothing extraneous, here every note, every nuance, each stroke is carried out with the utmost precision and effectiveness. For me each performance of the poem “Pugachev’s Execution” presents an event experienced personally. Rodion’s exactingness is well-known, and he has not altered his principles with the years: an interpreter must carry out what is written in the score literally and with the utmost precision. The mastery and perfection of the work are the result of all the nuances, the details, the precise adherence to the composer’s instructions. The general outline, naturally, is extremely important, but the artistic whole is unthinkable without the presence of all the composite parts in the interpretation. And here there is nothing which is either of primary or of secondary importance: everything is important, and each minutest detail determines a high finite result. During the numerous years of our acquaintance, I think I can already allow myself to say that I penetrated into the essence of his creative language. By now I simply feel his music, and I do not need any special words to describe it. The world premiere of the opera “Boyarynia Morozova,” which was entrusted to me, has been a priceless gift of fate. It presented another step in my professional life. It was a moment of absolute creative happiness which I hope I shared with my wonderful chorus.” Boris Tevlin