| Vladimir Fedoseev's orchestra played music from old films Can you imagine the artistic director of the most respectable symphony orchestra in Moscow - the Tchaikovsky Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra - soulfully singing a song from Utesov's repertoire at the conductor's stand? And what about actor Alexei Petrenko, thoughtfully perched on the edge of the stage during the BSO’s performance of the famous “Polka” by Boris Tchaikovsky from the beloved film “Balzaminov’s Marriage”? I couldn't. And I didn’t even believe that this was possible if it weren’t for the program played on Sunday by the BSO and its chief conductor called “Musical Film Pages.”
Music from old Soviet films was presented with courage and artistry. And oddly enough, it did not leave behind the sickly-sweet nostalgia of “Old Songs about the Main Thing.” Apparently, it's all about the excellent quality of execution. The sound pictures were three-dimensional, multi-colored and flexible. It seemed as if the film recorded on Svema film had been transferred to digital format and sounded in dolby surround mode. And Isaac Dunaevsky’s overture to “The Children of Captain Grant,” and Shostakovich’s romance from “The Gadfly,” and even Georgy Sviridov’s melody from Mikhail Schweitzer’s film “Time, Forward,” which became the signature theme song of the “Time” program. sounded like the first time.
And the composition of the hitherto underrated Boris Tchaikovsky for the film by Yevgeny Tashkov based on Dostoevsky’s novel “The Teenager” was taken very seriously, in the spirit of Alfred Schnittke’s music.
Overall, there was an impeccable balance between graceful improvisation and rigorous craftsmanship. Soloists Larisa Golubkina and Alexey Petrenko were responsible for the spirit of improvisation. For skill - orchestra artists. Vladimir Fedoseev acted as stage director, helmsman and even singer. I thought: for some reason, it is customary all over the world to get the audience excited only with polkas and marches of the Strauss family. But an excellent replacement for the waltz “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”, which is as indispensable as Olivier’s New Year’s salad, can be Isaac Dunaevsky’s waltz, and it’s great to conduct the conservatory hall not only to the Strauss, but also to the song “Captain, captain, smile...”. Only so far only the BSO and Fedoseev have succeeded in presenting Dunaevsky, Lev Solin and Tikhon Khrennikov as airy and enchanting, in the spirit of the famous Viennese composers. Sergei KHACHATUROV |
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