The legendary orchestra gave two concerts on the stage of the Kurgan Philharmonic in one day.

The long-awaited event has come to an end: legendary performers of classical masterpieces and music by world-class contemporary composers, the world-famous Moscow Virtuosi, have finally performed on the Kurgan stage. They made the Kurgan audience happy with their exquisite performing skills, enchanted them with an unexpectedly airy and magical reading of melodies they had loved since childhood.

They were so eagerly awaited (even by those who are not close to the classics, but occasionally superficially) that the musicians arranged a double celebration of music, having played two concerts a day on the stage of the Kurgan Philharmonic Society.

By the way, music lovers of the old guard remember well the first visit of “virtuosos” to our city in 1986, when the orchestra came to us together with its leader Vladimir Spivakov and brought pearls of classical music – works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.

And so thirty years later (!), when new generations of instrumental classics connoisseurs grew up, Kurgan again witnessed a miraculous performance by masters of bows and keys. The townspeople were celebrated by the concert agency Partner and Ilya Berezovsky.

The musicians arrived without Maestro Spivakov (it turned out that the absence of a conductor does not affect the harmonious coherence of the orchestra’s performance) and brought their most popular programme – “The Seasons”, which united the greats of Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi and our contemporary Astor Piazzolla in a single circle of musical fairy tale, melodic journey through time and space.

Tchaikovsky’s music sounded like an orchestral monolith, or rather, a common light breath, while Vivaldi’s solo was skillfully performed by Honoured Artist of Russia Alexei Lundin, the orchestra’s first violin. The Piazzolla “Seasons in Buenos Aires” was divided into four exciting Mediterranean seasons by soloists Denis Shulgin, Georgy Cai, Lev Iomdin and Evgeny Stembolsky.

The audience of the evening concert had, of course, more musical wonders – all of Vivaldi’s “Seasons” instead of one brief and captivating “Summer” for “daytime” listeners, and an “encore” in the form of works by Shostakovich, while the first concert received an equally beautiful continuation in the form of hits by Nino Rota and Piazzolla. But what the concerts did not differ at all was the level of virtuosity of the performers and the rapturous reaction of the audience, who drowned the musicians in ovations and shouts of “bravo”. “Logical ecstasy” – this is how Vladimir Spivakov defined the concept of “musical masterpiece”, and this is how one can call the feelings that the high art of the capital’s virtuosos caused in the audience.

Through the eyes of a loving audience

Хочется привести первые отзывы впечатленных зрителей, имеющих к музыке непосредственное отношение. Как, например, Ольга Харламова, преподаватель детской музыкальной школы № 4:

— The news of the famous “Moscow Virtuosi” tours in our city flew the Kurgan six months ago. The tedious wait was finally replaced by a feeling of complete happiness. Did hopes for a miracle come true? It could not have been any other way. Artists’ skill is not only the highest technique: the richness of intonation, nuances (oh, it’s the piano!), feelings, finally. And what a unity! Sounds like one multi-faceted whole! They probably breathe at the same time.

I can’t say that I went to the concert, dreaming of hearing “The Seasons” for the hundredth time. Each of Tchaikovsky’s plays is so familiar to all the musicians that they will list the tones, the melodies will be sung and the harmony will be called. And in the end what? A very elaborate arrangement, “from somewhere” music dialogues that have not been heard before… Fantastic!

Vivaldi… His sonnets for his own concerts in the “Seasons” cycle are inseparable from the music, so the poems sounding “behind the scenes” are a great idea, thanks to which the effect of hearing the work was maximised. And Alexei Lundin as Vivaldi? The complete illusion of the maestro’s concert with his orchestra, which has carried us through the centuries. The musicians of wigs and camisole.

The repertoire of academic groups has long included modern “non-serious” music. This is a requirement of time and the public, of course. Such works have always been in the sphere of interest of “Moscow Virtuosi”. This time Piazzolla was elected. He is not one of my favourite composers, so when I heard the announcement of his “Seasons”, I was prepared to “listen” to them in a rather biased manner. New music? No. Surprises in musical language? Not at all! Then why is it mesmerising what happens on stage? The “Magnificent Quartet” of soloists, replacing each other, has made you feel both the spring thirst for hot Argentina and its summer heat, and everything else that sneaks through the windows of a small restaurant, where passionate tango reigns all year round…

City of special musicality

In our communication after the concert, the leader and concertmaster of the orchestra, Honoured Artist of Russia Alexei Lundin, who has been playing in the famous band for 19 years, admitted that he was performing in the Kurgan with awe: “I have twice performed with you – solo and as a member of the quartet, I was a participant in the first Dmitry Shostakovich Festival. Here is the title of the Piazzolla’s “Libertango” composition, performed by us on an encore, which has two translations – “tango of love” and “tango of freedom”. I have the same associations with Kurgan. The atmosphere here is special – real human warmth and depth of people, everything here is filled with spiritual meaning.

The spiritual meanings of Moscow Virtuosi, which always demonstrate the highest culture of ensemble performance, are rediscovered in eternal classics and in the works of renowned contemporaries – in the music of Schnittke, Vasks, Giya Kancheli … Not to mention the works of Stravinsky, Bartók, Shostakovich, from which, as from the sacred grail, both inspiration and magic of melodies are drawn.

The programme “Seasons”, thanks to the light brackets of “virtuosos”, went “into the people” and began to nomadise on the repertoires of other orchestras, to some bewilderment of “pioneers”. In the meantime, the public is tempted to compare variations – and, to the honour of Moscow sound sorcerers, the first violin in this creative dispute is still played by Moscow Virtuosi.

Svetlana Koshkarova