The third Moscow festival of Vladimir Spivakov ends tomorrow, but some results can already be summed up: one of the main events was the production of Arthur Onegger’s Oratorio “Joan of Arc at the stake”.

Success was the very choice of the work, which in the concert performance would have made a strong impression: a textbook plot, expressive music, a running line with Russian translation, the participation of the choir and soloists – all this would have been enough. We will add the participation of Fanny Ardan and fashion director Kirill Serebrennikov, and note the performance of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, which skillfully coped with the complex score, and get the inevitable hit. And the riots in France turned out to be a gift to the authors of the play, which begins with the words: “The darkness … France was ruined and devastated”.

The role of the action went far beyond the festival: two performances of “Joan of Arc” reminded the general public of the name of Arthur Onegger, an outstanding composer of the twentieth century. Yesterday, fifty years have passed since his death; the sadder it is that in the current Moscow season, “Joan of Arc” was practically the only offering to the master. The Moscow ensemble of contemporary music also paid tribute to the composer: the programme “Dedication to Onegger” crowned an opus by Yury Kasparov, based on quotations from the main works of the patriarch of French music. Perhaps this peculiar outline is nothing more than a desperate attempt to at least briefly recall the fundamental works of the past century – such as the epoch-making Pacific 231 – if we hardly hear them in their entirety. The higher the memorial and educational significance of the performance of Joan of Arc, the decoration of this year’s festival, which turned towards the theatre and ballet.

As for the concert programmes, they are partly inferior to those presented by Vladimir Spivakov two years ago (perhaps with the exception of Ferruccio Furlanetto’s recital). And it is not even that at the opening of this and previous festivals the same fragments of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet sounded, and the repertoire of the dark diva Indra Thomas is half the same as that of the great Jesse Norman. Recall that of her three performances, the most successful was with the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, another concert of which was the peak of the last forum: it is impossible to forget their program from the works of Strauss, Mozart, Elgar and Britten. The only appearance of “Virtuosos” at the current festival, alas, was not as bright. The evening began with a Divertissement by Mozart in D Major; the performance of the crown issue of the Virtuosos showed confidence on the verge of automation. The best impression was made by Bach’s prelude in Reger’s treatment of an organ opus for a chamber orchestra with a harpsichord.

The main part of the programme turned out to be more interesting. Mozart’s Seventeenth Piano Concerto with Virtuosi was performed by Alexei Lyubimov; this wonderful musician does not have much in common with Vladimir Spivakov – be it the repertoire or the image. The more surprising is that on stage they found an enviable understanding, and Alexei Borisovich led the orchestra no less than Vladimir Theodorovich. A similar effect could be seen in the finale of the programme: while accompanying Indra Thomas, the Virtuosi strove not to yield to her in artistry, relaxedness, emotionality or precision. Tomorrow, Mrs Thomas will perform Gershwin songs with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, and today the festival is presenting another star. French pianist Pierre-Laurent Hémar is known primarily as a performer of the music of Messiaen, Ligeti and Boulez, but this time he will be playing Mozart’s Eighteenth Concerto. He will also be performing Schumann’s Second Symphony and five pieces by Webern, one of which only lasts forty seconds. The main question of twentieth-century music is: does one need such a perfect organisation of sounds where there is little to organise? Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Ilya Ovchinnikov

“Newspaper” (28 November 2005)