You have to pay for pleasure

Date of publication: September 16, 2008

The Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble performed at MMDM. Perhaps for the last time

A concert of the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble took place in the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music (MIDM). The program “Musical Transit through Moscow to Paris” lasted only an hour - as many as six works by our contemporaries were performed, three of them for the first time. The evening was probably the last appearance of the ensemble on this site.

Composer Edison Denisov, who was directly involved in the creation of the Moscow Ensemble of Contemporary Music (MASM), for many years maintained close relations with France, where many of his compositions were published and first performed. Denisov has been dead for twelve years, but all this time the ensemble has existed “under the sign of Denisov” and continues to work with French cultural institutions.

An example of this was the “Musical Transit through Moscow to Paris” program: it brought together composers collaborating with the company Le Chant du Monde (recording company plus music publishing house). And the instrumental composition that took the stage - a string quartet, a woodwind quartet and a piano - was set by Denisov's composition "Woman and Birds", which became the center of the program. Although this elegant opus is based on the paintings of the Spaniard Joan Miró, the spirit of the music is quite French, reminiscent of both Debussy and Messiaen, whose many opuses are also dedicated to birds.

Three numbers were performed for the first time. The play by Kharkov resident Alexander Shchetinsky Strindberg-Impressions in the spirit of the late Stravinsky, written under the impression of the work of August Strindberg, was remembered for the magnificent duet of bassoonist Valery Popov and cellist Sergei Astashonok. The composition of the Frenchman Aubert Lemelan "Seven Ravens" is an illustration for the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm, which was read by actress Maria Nefedova, although without the text the music could only benefit. "K. 347 bis" by Tashkent resident Dmitry Yanov-Yanovsky - minimalist variations on a Mozart theme, a consolation for those who found the language of previous works too modern.

The same role in the program was played by Elsa Barren's "Lady's Craft" - beautiful variations for wind quintet. The evening ended with “Dedication to Honegger” by Yuri Kasparov, founder and artistic director of MASM. The work contains many quotes from Arthur Honegger, although the warlike nature of the music is more reminiscent of Dmitry Shostakovich, or even Galina Ustvolskaya. As a result, even such a laconic program turned out to be diverse, aimed at the different tastes of modern music lovers.

The hall was approximately three-quarters full - quite a decent result for an obviously non-commercial program. In the Chamber Hall of the House of Music, which celebrated its fifth anniversary a year ago, MASM performed from the very first season and formed a permanent audience here. The question is whether the MMDM administration, which is determined to make a profit from an art form that is, by definition, unprofitable, values it. As Yuri Kasparov told Gazeta, the ensemble's upcoming performances at the House of Music have been canceled as unprofitable - the musicians are not ready to pay for them out of their own pockets. And this despite the fact that the expenses were borne not only by MMDM: the group’s concerts, including the last one, were traditionally held here with the active support of the Goethe Institute, the French Cultural Center, the British Council, the French Foreign Ministry and other organizations.

The ensemble will not lose too much from the suspension of cooperation: it will still have concerts in the Moscow House of Composers, in cities of Russia and abroad, and the soloists of MASM will have permanent work in other orchestras and ensembles in Moscow. The House of Music can lose much more, in whose repertoire the percentage of art “for the people” will increase, like the work of Alexander Novikov - three of his concerts are planned in November - at the expense of art not for the masses, genuine art.