Why did the premiere of “Iolanta” at the Bolshoi Theater take place without Vladimir Fedoseev? Alexander Trushin talks with the conductor

Last week the premiere of Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta took place at the Bolshoi Theater. The idea for the production belongs to Vladimir Fedoseev, but he was not at the conductor’s stand at the premiere. Why - the maestro told Ogonyok

Vladimir Fedoseev - expert and researcher of Tchaikovsky's work
Photo: Yuri Martyanov, Kommersant / buy photo

— Vladimir Ivanovich, why did the premiere take place without you?

“I’m very sorry that my name wasn’t on the premiere poster.” I myself proposed this production to the Bolshoi Theater. The idea was to combine eight fragments from the ballet “The Nutcracker” with Tchaikovsky’s last opera. In his last year of life, Pyotr Ilyich conducted in precisely this combination. He probably felt the internal connection of these works, their intonational unity. And this idea is very interesting to me. I told Vladimir Urin, director of the Bolshoi, about this, and the idea was supported.

We started work, naturally, by listening to soloists. To be honest, I was left with a sad impression of the composition. The singers who came did not suit me. Iolanta was not there, and neither was Vaudemont. Now this role is performed by Oleg Dolgov, he has a wonderful voice, he made his debut at the Bolshoi in 2008 in this role. But the main problem is different. There were probably no young singers who could cope with these parts... Of course, they exist, but their preparation leaves much to be desired, it was necessary to work with them. And there was little time left. I simply would not have had enough rehearsals (after all, it is in rehearsals that the performance is born) to adequately prepare the premiere. Some of them had to be cancelled, and by agreement with Vladimir Urin, we suspended work and postponed my participation in Iolanta to the beginning of January.

— So you haven’t completely given up on staging “Iolanta”?

- Of course not. I have now conducted nine performances of The Sleeping Beauty at La Scala in Milan, I have returned to Moscow and will continue rehearsals for Iolanta. At my request, additional lessons have been scheduled with the orchestra and soloists. The first performance is scheduled for January 8 next year.

— You proposed Hasmik Grigoryan for the role of Iolanta?

— Yes, she is a very good singer, with excellent vocal capabilities. I wanted her to sing. But for what reasons the theater could not come to an agreement with her, I don’t know.

- And the director?

— Sergei Zhenovach is an excellent director, I am very interested in his works. But this is his first time staging an opera. And this was one of the reasons for postponing rehearsals; he needed more time to prepare the performance.

— Do you have an opinion about the Bolshoi Theater orchestra?

- Unfortunately, I was not able to recognize him. I only did one orchestral run-through. Once this orchestra was very famous and constantly performed symphony programs. The Bolshoi Theater violin ensemble was also famous. Now a lot has changed, and I don’t know if the orchestra plays its symphony programs.

— After the reconstruction of the Bolshoi, and the Mariinsky too, new stage areas appeared in these theaters, the number of premieres increased sharply...

— Yes, theaters can turn into performance factories, and this is very dangerous. They produce a lot of performances, often they don’t have time to work through them. But this is a global trend. There are theaters that do not allow the conductor to rehearse at all, especially if the performance is already in progress. Play as you wish. I was once offered at the Vienna Opera to conduct Carmen from one rehearsal.

And this applies not only to orchestras, but also to soloists. The singers don’t sing anything except opera parts, they don’t have time. And it is imperative to work on the chamber repertoire, because it is in this genre that mastery is developed. In opera, in addition to singing, there is a lot of things that can hide from the listener some shortcomings of the vocalist. And on the chamber stage there is only a singer and an accompanist, you are alone with the music. In the past, all singers tried to perform in the chamber genre. Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev performed a cycle of 100 romances in the Great Hall of the Conservatory and told me how this helped him in his work on opera roles.

We have lost our standards. Who will say today: what is good and what is bad? After all, someone must maintain a high level of professionalism and taste. And there is not enough serious and professional music criticism in the press.

— In science they have been talking about “brain drain” for a long time. But our musical talents also go abroad?

— There is no theater in the West in which Russian singers do not sing. And the cast of the ballet is mostly Russian. Orchestra players in America too, especially string players. Our young talented guys are leaving to study with their teachers who work in the West. Boris Kushnir teaches at the Vienna Conservatory, and Zakhar Bron teaches in Cologne and Switzerland. This is our Russian violin school. And we are losing it. The same thing happens with the piano and vocal schools.

Musical Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries influenced the whole world. Our culture is much deeper than any other. It exists both here and in the West. But I wouldn’t say that everything is perfect there. It’s very bad with directors, with their claim to be “modern”. They are sorely lacking in knowledge...

Interviewed by Alexander Trushin

"We are losing standards"