"Chello", guitar and Bach

The musicians collaborating with the “Return” program offer wonderful, original programs even after the end of the festival. On February 25, a concert is expected in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, where the main characters will be the violin and oboe (the main characters of the Return festival, Roman Mints and Dmitry Bulgakov, will play them). Yesterday, in the same Small Hall, a concert was held under the modest title “I.S. Bach." Cellist Boris Andrianov, guitarist Dmitry Illarionov, violist Maxim Rysanov performed the composer's chamber music in exquisite instrumental versions. The textbook Chaconne from the second Partita sounded, for example, arranged for guitar, and fifteen two-voice inventions for a duet of viola and cello. The filigree skill of the performers made it possible to fully enjoy the unusually fragile beauty of famous music. It’s as if one day we would see our favorite painting translated into an engraving. Guitarist Dmitry ILLARIONOV spoke with Sergei KHACHATUROV about the joys and difficulties of translating Bach's music into a new instrumental format.

— You have been playing Bach’s music in original instrumental versions for a long time. Most often in a duet with cellist Boris Andrianov. Is the guitar-cello duet a unique or common phenomenon?

— There are about a dozen such duets in the world. I hope we managed to reach a level that allows us to be noticeable against the general background. In 2002, Borey and I’s disc, where we performed music from Bach to Bellofronte, was nominated for a Grammy Award. We often tour as a duo. Last year we played a concert with an orchestra, written especially for us by the Italian composer Gilardino.

— Did the very idea of ​​making transcriptions of Bach’s opuses for guitar and cello attract you because of the now fashionable authenticity?

- I am cautious about authenticity. We can only guess how this or that music sounded during the composer’s lifetime. It would be naive to think that our ideas fully correspond to historical reality. I think that we should still try to play old compositions in tune with our time. At the same time, stay in style. I turned to guitar versions of Bach’s music not out of authenticity, but out of a desire to look for unusual, new sounds. Moreover, Bach himself loved to make versions of his music for different instruments.

- For the forerunner of the lute guitar too?

-- He has four suites written for an original instrument called Lautenwerke. This is a hybrid of a lute and a harpsichord, which he himself invented and played. It’s exciting to make guitar versions of Bach’s piano works because, I’m sure, the guitar is closer in nature to a keyboard instrument. Even the method of teaching the game is similar.

— Is your passion for guitar versions of great music related to the desire to expand the capabilities of the instrument and its repertoire?

- Without a doubt. In the world of academic music, the stereotype of perceiving the guitar as a less serious instrument than the piano or violin persists. Recently, for example, conductor Vladimir Fedoseev, who invited me to play Joaquin Rodrigo’s concert “Aranjuez” with the Bolshoi Orchestra, admitted that he was performing with a soloist-guitarist for the first time. And after the concert there was hope that our cooperation would continue. So stereotypes need to be broken, especially before the era of romanticism, the guitar was the favorite of both the imperial courts and the world of private music. With my creativity I am trying to return the well-deserved glory to my favorite instrument.