Translated material
Copies in batches of originals
Yuri Bashmet, his “Soloists” and not their instruments
Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists ensemble played a concert under the heading of the Easter Festival, also as part of the Year of France in Russia, and also dedicated to the anniversary of the State Collection. The State Collection of Musical Instruments, which owes its existence to the revolution, turns 90 years old.In 2008, Bashmet already organized such a concert display of collectible instruments - then they were Stradivarius, but, as the musician recalled, the main ovation that time went to the Guarneri del Gesu instrument (one of the members of the ensemble did not have enough Stradivarius).
Now the featured strings of the 20th century French master Jean Baptiste Villaume, who was not only the main supplier of Stradivarius, Guarneri, etc., instruments to Paris, but also became famous for creating three thousand excellent, durable and timbre (as Bashmet explained) copies of ancient Italian works - having disassembled the Stradivarius into parts, Vuillaume, in fact, began to build his own. So we are talking about masterly copies that have successfully achieved the status of valuable originals. Villaume did not make fakes - he designed famous imitations, honestly put his own mark and came up with his own decorations (bearded carved heads, magnificent angels on the soundboards - Bashmet showed something to the public in the Great Hall of the Conservatory), but, they say, even Paganini had difficulty could distinguish his Strad , handed over to a Frenchman for repair, from William’s new creation.
The program for the two dozen “villames” that the State Collection has at its disposal was chosen with a Francophone accent, although, in fact, only Ravel’s famous “Pavane for the Death of the Infanta” turned out to be French (and even then not entirely) - an exquisitely sad hit, arranged for solo viola and strings by Roman Ledenev. And if Bashmet had played the viola in “Pavane” (and this was not the case), then the “French” would explain the not entirely familiar sound of the viola. A very beautiful, closed, as if singing with closed lips, the gouache sound of the lower register of the viola somewhat dullly and constrainedly set off the entire melody that sounded in the upper register (usually Bashmet’s is especially clear, characteristically tender). But “Pavane,” however, quickly faded away, and the audience was predictably fascinated, a little intrigued (the soloist kept silent about his instrument) and therefore pleased.
In the ensemble sound of the “Williams” under the fingers of the “Moscow Soloists” one could clearly hear stately beauty and some kind of solemn persuasiveness: the Paris symphonies of Mozart (filigree ceremonial painting in three movements) and Haydn (all in curls and vignettes “Chicken”) sounded excellent.
It’s all the more offensive that there was a desperately small audience at this concert - the hall was either half full or half empty. And if it weren’t for the cloud of ash over musical Europe, this would most likely have to be blamed on the organizers. And so, although the BZK did not fall into the dust zone, it can be assumed that many potential listeners of the elegant program were lost somewhere due to the elements.
And certainly due to volcanic activity, stuck in Frankfurt, one of the main characters of the program, the French cellist Gautier Capusson, who was supposed to significantly add beauty and eventfulness to the evening, did not make it to Moscow. Thank you, Bashmet himself got out of Europe (he spoke about this from the stage): “I winked at the Aeroflot representative, and he put me on the plane. Of course, he couldn’t imprison the hundred people of the “New Russia” orchestra; they remained in Spain.”
Instead of Gautier Capusson in Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, Alexander Buzlov appeared on stage - even during his performance at the Tchaikovsky Competition (2007), Natalya Gutman's student looked like an extremely reliable musician. In exactly the same way, easily, seriously and reliably, Buzlov played Tchaikovsky, but the main surprise awaited the audience afterwards: it turned out that Buzlov did not play the “Viloma”. And not even in old Italian. "Master Yakub!" - Bashmet announced and continued: “Sasha tells me: he is 32 years old!” There was a standing ovation. And again, as last time, the hero of the evening on the occasion was an instrument to which the concert was not dedicated.