Translated material
The Tchaikovsky incident
The international performing forum solved problems of prestige with varying success
The XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich and held under the unofficial motto “raise the fallen prestige to the limit,” ended with a solemn ceremony with the participation of the Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov, Galina Vishnevskaya and others. It differed from the previous ones by a more significant preliminary pause (five years instead of the traditional four), which, according to government officials, was supposed to affect the quality of the organization, more impressive amounts of prize money ($20 thousand - I prize, 15 and 10 - II and III plus significant contributions from sponsors in the form of additional and special prizes) and a clear desire to get out of this water without serious incidents and scandals.What was achieved: first, to increase the prize money, which in itself increases the weight of the competition, then, to do without fights, challenges and statements, at least within the jury itself. Everything went more or less peacefully, and the first prizes were awarded in all specialties except piano, which, after a series of sad holes at the very top of the prize ladder, is already some success.
Nevertheless, it was not possible to pass the test without serious organizational miscalculations, and some of them were explained precisely by the intention to raise the prestige of the event.
The scandals started at a cello competition. Already after the first round, an open letter appeared from cellist Igor Bobovich (Ukraine), who did not make it to the second round: according to the conditions of the competition, winners of the first prizes of international competitions are allowed to compete without preliminary selection on DVD, and Bobovich was first admitted and came to Moscow to play. But on the eve of the performance, the jury, chaired by Natalya Shakhovskaya, decided to remove him from the competition, since the competition he won was a chamber competition, not a solo one. After the scandal, Bobovich was still admitted, but was eliminated before the second round.
The reason for the conflict is the insufficiently clear formulation of the conditions of the competition (there is no word “solo” in the rules), the possibility of interpretations along the way, unformulated relations between the organizing committee and the jury, that is, problems of regulations.
The same problems emerged in the first round of the piano competition. Six months ago, when the composition of the participants was determined, their programs were accepted and published, no one noticed that Tatyana Kolesova was playing Pletnev’s suite on themes from the ballet “The Nutcracker” as an obligatory piece by Tchaikovsky. Kolesova was informed 36 hours before the performance by telephone that “original” essays were required (although many other participants assumed so). Later, the executive secretary of the competition organizing committee, Oleg Skorodumov, commented on the situation as follows: “Everyone who wanted to call in advance and clarify. And since they had allowed it before (well, don’t ban it!), now the participant thought that they would allow it. So the prestige of the competition fell. But the jury decided to raise it and strictly monitor compliance with the rules.” So, again, already during the round, the jury began to strictly implement the rules, which, however, were not clearly stated in advance.
Pianist Andrei Korobeinikov, who was stopped during his performance for exceeding the time limit, also fell into the funnel of the jury’s moods, although in a less dramatic way. After this show of firmness, the jury decided not to do it again. Meanwhile, Andrei Korobeinikov, in two rounds, earned the fame of the brightest and most gifted participant, an established, mature musician. But he didn’t make it to the finals, which became the main scandal of the piano competition. And the reason for talking about the bias of the jury was obvious.
The most serious scandal of the competition happened in the finals of the cellists. Sergei Antonov, who came to the pre-final rehearsal, discovered that the Fedoseev Orchestra of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra had not learned Prokofiev’s Concerto-Symphony in the program for six months, and it was impossible to play it. After mutual accusations, with the permission of the chairman of the jury and the organizing committee, it was decided to replace Prokofiev with Dvorak, known to everyone by heart. The case is truly disturbingly unpleasant. The orchestra blamed conductor Eduard Serov for everything (a month before the competition he broke his leg, they say he was injected with painkillers, and then he spent all the finals not only sitting, but really badly) and attributed the lack of readiness to the soloist himself. In principle, the world's best orchestras are able to play a score according to the accompanist and soloist - without falling into fatal dependence on the conductor. But the BSO clearly does not have such capabilities, but the fact that Prokofiev’s Concerto-Symphony, as it turned out, is not part of its active repertoire is certainly unfortunate.
But, perhaps, the tasks of the organizing committee should include monitoring the readiness of the selected orchestra and the condition of the conductor, as well as making decisions about replacing those that are “broken.”
Meanwhile, the jury of all instrumental specialties, not always acting flawlessly, taxied to the finish line to balanced, peaceful and largely convincing results.
Among the pianists, no one got the first prize - the main contender Alexander Lubyantsev, who was loved not only by part of the public, but also, as they say, by the chairman Nikolai Petrov, broke down at the orchestral finale. His “compatriot” St. Petersburg pianist Miroslav Kultyshev (2nd prize) turned out to be more reliable and not without interesting discoveries in interpretations. Lubyantsev was nevertheless forgiven and put in third place. The fourth place was occupied by the strong traditionalist with emotional aspirations Lim Dong-hyuk and Sergei Sobolev - the only one who really played Tchaikovsky's First Concerto, demonstrating, moreover, a unique mastery of sound. Benjamin Moser (a fan of European sophistication played Brahms heavily and unsuccessfully in the finale) took fifth place. The decision of the jury (including the sixth prize to the student of the all-powerful professor Sergei Dorensky, Fedor Amirov, who showed himself in the final as a professional misunderstanding) was greeted by the public with applause.
The cellists' first prize was won by Shakhovskaya's student Sergei Antonov. Detractors tend to see this as the influence of the orchestra incident. But the majority is inclined to believe that freshness won out over perfection (Natalia Gutman’s student Alexander Buzlov, who ultimately took second place, was long considered the main contender).
The violin finale ended with the expected victory of the strong student of the famous Zakhar Bron, Japanese Mayuko Kamio, prepared not only by the powerful representation of violinists from Southeast Asia in the final, but also by numerous statements during the competition by the chairman of the violin jury, Vladimir Spivakov, on the topic of the crisis of the violin school at the Moscow Conservatory. One way or another, she was not offended. Nikita Borisoglebsky, a student of Eduard Grach, although he did not completely master the final, took second place in this parade.
In general, the instrumental finales turned out to be smooth, moderately strong, varied and, as usual, gave rise to conversations about how wonderfully the favorites of professionals and music lovers who were not allowed in would have played (Korobeinikov - among the pianists, Artem Shishkov, who lost the text in the second round , - among violinists). There were no blatant biases in the results.
It is clear that all the unpleasant sensations directly related to the organizational side of the matter, the regulation of the course of the competition in general and the “managerial” actions of the jury in particular. The vagueness of the conditions and powers led to behind-the-scenes effects, which, in fact, the competition initially wanted to avoid. In addition to public scandals, there were other minor nuances (the work of the press club in the Hermitage garden almost simultaneously with the auditions, a strange-looking “official” independent examination - one expert in each specialty, who did not regularly share opinions about all participants), but in any case it is clear that the organization of the competition requires more care. Otherwise, the rise in prestige remains a declaration, and not a process built on the basis of effective and non-corruption management.