Cello brow

International Festival in Memory of Mstislav Rostropovich in Kronberg

Located twenty kilometers from Frankfurt am Main, the town of Kronberg is one of the most beautiful places in Hesse. It is pushed into a niche of soft green hills and therefore, even on a map, it resembles the drawing of an ideal acoustic membrane, the shell of a sensitive ear. It was in this medieval town, or more precisely, the village that developed around a castle standing on a mountain, that the International Academy of Chamber Music was founded in 1993, and the cello was chosen as the queen of its instruments. Over the course of ten years, the director of the academy, cellist Raimund Trenkler, managed to turn it into an authoritative forum for the best musicians in the world, who regularly gather in Kronberg for festivals, master classes and symposiums. The artistic council of the academy included Marta Casals Istomin, as well as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Mstislav Rostropovich. In 2003, on the initiative of Rostropovich, the World Cello Organization (WCO) was created in Kronberg, among the founders of which are cello patriarchs Bernard Greenhouse and Janos Starker (Starker). Mstislav Leopoldovich himself, by a strong-willed decision, obliged to consider Kronberg the cello capital of the world. A facsimile reproduction of Rostropovich’s autograph-decree in bronze can be read today on the pedestal at the monument to the maestro, opened on October 3, on the first day of the Eighth International Kronberg Cello Festival, dedicated to the memory of the great artist.

Drawings of Time

If we take Rostropovich’s words about Kronberg not just as a spectacular rhetorical figure, but a little more seriously, we will have to admit that the appointment of the village of Kronberg as the capital (read: the capital) of the cello is both a witty and wise decision. In this tiny, but generously beautiful town, time itself is savored and treasured as preciously as the timbre of a cello voice. Remember, Mandelstam in “A Conversation about Dante” compared the density of a cello timbre with the movement of honey flowing from a tilted bottle? No force will make it flow faster. No vanity can be allowed into the acoustics of Kronberg's cello, where each concert becomes involved in the unique plasticity of Space and Time. And this plasticity can be captured and clearly conveyed only in the case of outstanding music playing and professional listening.

The festival concerts took place four to five times a day until October 7 inclusive. The places chosen were the academy hall and three Kronberg churches with Gothic altars, paintings and towers. The first concert began at 11 am, the last at 10 pm. There was nowhere for any apple to fall. People who did not get a place crowded at the entrances and pressed themselves against the walls. At the same time, it cannot be said that some kind of excitement was created. There was no party spirit at all. It rather resembled the atmosphere of a service in a Protestant church: strictly, collected, even everyday, but to the point.

Due to its lineup of performers, the festival program can evoke the fear of a dream suddenly coming true. Sometimes it was necessary to choose who to go to: Gary Hoffman (an outstanding student of Janos Starker, teacher of many major music schools, including the Kronberg Academy) could play in one church. At the same time, in another church, the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s composition in memory of Rostropovich could be performed by the Celissimo ensemble (also consisting of eminent teachers of the Kronberg Academy, including director Raimund Trenkler).

Here is an incomplete list of performers at the festival: Ivan Monighetti, Miklos Perenyi, Lynn Harrell, Natalia Gutman, David Geringas, Misha Maisky, Monika Leskovar, Frans Helmerson, Arto Noras, Marta Argerich, Gidon Kremer... If we highlight only the solo concerts of cellists, then they can be compared to an imaginary parade of great artists, in which the main ones participate - from Rembrandt, Vermeer (Lynn Harrell, Miklos Perenyi) to Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter (Natalia Gutman, David Geringas). Each musician, in accordance with his own culture of sound, its volume, emotion, light, offered his own portrait of Space and Time, manifested in the chosen repertoire. And yet twentieth-century music reigned supreme at the festival.

Acoustic portrait

The festival is dedicated to the memory of Mstislav Rostropovich. Therefore, the program became an homage to the musical tastes and preferences of the cellist. They played works written for him, loved by him, and revised by the maestro. Some concerts turned out to be a downright encrypted portrait of Mstislav Leopoldovich. In ancient paintings by the legendary Arcimboldo, human faces were composed of attributes of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. And in other concerts of the just-ended festival, the image of the Musician was woven from chords, voices of sounding notes. Particularly memorable in this regard was the opening concert that took place on the evening of October 3 at the Frankfurt Alte Oper (“Old Opera”). In the first part, three cellists who were students of Rostropovich played compositions that seemed to sketch the memorable traits of the maestro’s temperament: Misha Maisky passionately and mournfully sang “Kol Nidrei” by Max Bruch. “Kol Nidrei” is a Jewish prayer that cancels all promises that we cannot or do not have time to fulfill. David Geringas performed the gentle, exquisitely beautiful “Romance” by Richard Strauss - Rostropovich greatly appreciated this work, but never played it himself. Finally, Natalya Gutman performed the most meditative, second part of Dvorak's cello concerto - a declaration of love. In the second part, the seemingly predictable and almost by heart Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony was announced, performed by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, beloved by Rostropovich, conducted by Neemi Järvi. And here the unpredictable happened. All stereotypes and cliches of Russian interpretations of the tragic symphony were completely swept aside. Our orchestras love all these steps of fate, complaints, lamentations and the final flood of tears. Järvi and the Bavarians proposed something different: he presented the symphony as a story about the life of a strong, energetic, powerful man who knows how to fight, is not broken and wins. And even the mournful ending became enlightened humility. Without tear-jerking: “Well, it’s time. Don’t remember it badly!” I involuntarily remember a conversation that happened a few days later with Rodion Shchedrin. He excitedly talked about Rostropovich and his last interviews, when the maestro seriously answered journalists’ questions about his plans; they say, in 2011 he will conduct Britten’s “War Requiem” somewhere in Buenos Aires, and then suddenly added: “But if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll listen to the one who replaces me from there.” In the same way, Rostropovich joked: “When I ascend to heaven, I will definitely ask Beethoven to write a cello concerto!”

By the way, the new essay by Shchedrin himself, which is succinctly titled “On the Road,” turned out to be just as portrait-like. The composer said that the work was written in a matter of days after the death of Rostropovich at the request of the director of the Kronberg Academy, Raimund Trenkler. An ensemble of six cellos communicates with a recorder, which is not visible on stage. “The flute is the voice of Slava himself, an already unearthly voice. The flute is the most ancient instrument, personifying eternity.”

It is pleasant that the bronze portrait of Rostropovich (by Anna Schwarzbach), unveiled in the garden of the Academy, is devoid of false pathos and pathos and is charming precisely because it represents the hypostasis of a private, sincere, smiling person. Rostropovich’s face seems to be “caught” at the moment of reaction to someone’s joke. The sculptural ensemble is complemented by a seven-note path that leads to a small stele with a facsimile bronze inscription by Rostropovich about Kronberg as the cello capital of the world. The monument was created with donations from individual townspeople. The festival itself was held with funds from many German sponsors (including Deutsche Bank). Even the Russian company Severstal made its contribution.

Homage to Reading

As part of the festival, a presentation of a thoroughly published book entitled “Great Cellists” (Grosse Cellisten, Munich, 2007) took place. It was written by the famous German music critic, permanent contributor to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Dr. Harald Eggebrecht. The composition of the book is fundamentally non-classical, rather polemical. Harald Eggebrecht's heroes are many cellists of our time, from Pablo Casals to twenty-year-old students of the Kronberg Academy. The foreword was written by maestro Janos Starker himself.

The chronology is not always followed. It was important for the author to show the tension of different schools, generations, traditions, to present them to the reader within the dialogue. A separate chapter is devoted to the Russian school. Its heroes were Daniil Shafran and Rostropovich’s students: Natalya Gutman, David Geringas, Misha Maisky.

Mr. Eggebrecht closely follows today's musical life in Russia, which he told your observer about in a private conversation. The picture does not cause him any particular enthusiasm. Music education centers in Russia are gradually losing their former greatness and authority. The best professors go to work abroad. The Tchaikovsky Competition has an average reputation.

I asked to name the most reputable Russian orchestras in the world. Harald considers only Temirkanov’s orchestra to be such, and only because it was previously led by Mravinsky. In general, the judgment is subjective. However, there is something to think about...

Generation NEXT

Today the Kronberg Academy has four student cellists: Andreas Brantelid, Marie Elisabeth Hecker , Giorgi Kharadze and Gabriel Schwabe. All Kronberg students have extensive concert experience. Their biography includes victories at prestigious European competitions (in particular, Maria Elisabeth Hecker won the last Rostropovich competition in Paris in 2005). Unlike other schools, Kronberg offers its students a more flexible learning method. General disciplines are studied in Frankfurt. In Kronberg - working with instrument professors. Maximum assistance in preparing for an active concert life.

The performance of the school students was convincing even in the context of the greats. Marie Elisabeth, together with Gidon Kremer, accompanied by the Kremerata-Baltica orchestra, performed Gia Kancheli’s new work “Silent Prayer”. Hecker's cello captivated us with its clear, transparent sound and ability to sensitively hear and respond to Gidon Kremer's violin, overflowing with love and tenderness.

Nineteen-year-old Gabriel Schwabe put the audience on both shoulder blades. The Spanish temperament and German discipline (Gabriel's mother is Spanish, father is German) gave an enchanting result. In addition to the fact that he played the Mendelssohn sonata very maturely and thoughtfully, in the variations on a theme by Rossini Martinu and in Rostropovich’s “Humoresque” he demonstrated such phenomenal virtuosity that the audience simply choked with delight. Here there was stomping, howling and screaming - appropriate, however. And Shvabe bowed a little embarrassedly, whispered with pianist Pavel Gililov (the main and brilliant partner of the cellists at many concerts) and repeated “Humoresque” as if at even greater, supersonic speed. Easily!

Watching the growth of Kronberg pets is now very exciting. And the next festival in the “cello capital of the world” is expected in a year.