About the hidden at pace

Concerts of Teodor Currentzis and Novosibirsk musicians

Soon in Moscow, as part of the Golden Mask, two theatrical works by Theodor Currentzis and the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater will be shown: the authentic “The Marriage of Figaro” (in concert performance was performed in Moscow a couple of seasons ago) and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”. In the meantime, the concert works of the conductor and his charges - the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Novosibirsk Opera, the Musica Aeterna Chamber Orchestra and the New Siberian Singers Choir - could look like an overture to a theatrical tour, if not for the maestro’s usual loud extravagance of plans. First, on Svyatoslav Richter’s birthday, Beethoven was played at the BZK - not just for the soul or for beauty, for example, but so as to “return to the composer’s innermost intention.” Then they gave Puccini’s “La Bohème” in concert performance in order to discover in it something unprecedented, different from other operatic verism, from which Currentzis, with his strong penchant for authenticism and experimentation, for ancient music and modern music, is unusually far from it.

The full hall at both concerts and the inappropriately friendly applause between the movements of the Violin Concerto and the Fifth Symphony on the first evening testified not only to the public’s goodwill towards the conductor’s manner of first offering a spectacular thesis and then passionately proving it, but also to the large percentage of “free” pensioners in hall (the Philharmonic explains that it is better to fill the hall in this way than to leave the event without an audience at all).

The result that Currentzis arrived at in Puccini's La Bohème turned out to be contradictory. With the help of the orchestra, choir and mainly Veronica Dzhioeva in the role of Mimi, he discovered in the score a special flexibility and detail characteristic of old music, playing with almost baroque “bloat”, moving tempos and sonorities. Mimi (and Veronica Dzhioeva will also appear on stage in “The Marriage of Figaro”) sounded Mozartian tenderly, carefully and sadly and received a well-deserved ovation. Musetta (young Sofia Fomina, who also deftly handled the part) turned out to be the most perfect Suzanna, thereby further emphasizing the Mozartian outline of this Currentzis Puccini. Perhaps the conductor's unusually florid idea could sound convincing. But the disastrously unstructured ensemble (the beautiful sonorous baritone Dmitry Tilyakos, two muted parts of Mozart’s singers, the absence of the main character, and Konstantin Andreev - Rudolph practically could not sing that evening, and the general unsung and unplayed) brought his efforts to naught.

Beethoven's project turned out to be no less controversial, despite the fact that the Violin Concerto was his absolute success. Through the efforts of the conductor and soloist, the skillful and intelligent Isabelle Faust, this maesthetic work turned into a transparent, prayerful whisper against the backdrop of orchestral shadows and ancient dances. Here again the ensemble was excellent. Next came the Fifth Symphony and the notorious knock of fate, to which Currentzis promised to return the features of the original, intimate composer's plan. After all, the introduction (from the conductor’s explanations) usually sounds in the wrong rhythm, and the tempos are much slower than the author once set, since huge orchestras and the reigning style slow down and change this music.

So, the normal authenticist message is to return to the letter of the text in order to carve out the forgotten spirit from it. However, modern authenticism is already trying not to place too large bets on literalism. Trying to avoid what happened to Currentzis with the Fifth Symphony. It was really played very quickly, and it really “changed in face”, seeming to become lighter and more danceable. But this was not enough to highlight new meanings in new (old) sounds. After all, the usual description of authenticist mechanics - to remove the patina of late interpretations from an old text, revealing its meaning - is in fact extremely inaccurate. And many authenticists know very well that living life lies not so much in the ancient hidden letter, but in our (musician) consciousness - somewhere between, for example, the text, its later performing and publishing versions, our memory and fantasy. Currentzis's Fifth Symphony did not become anything more than a "very fast Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" or an entertaining literalist experiment. And the thesis about a possible “return to the secrecy of the author” has completely revealed its deceptiveness and not very much validity.

Yulia BEDEROVA