Composer Ilya Demutsky: "People always require some radical measures"

“Hero of our time”, “Nureyev” and “Black Square” glorified the author who received a new order at the Bolshoi Theater

In the space of the sixteenth hall of the new Tretyakov Gallery on the Crimean shaft, four evenings in a row were given the opera of Ilya Demutsky "for the Black Square." This is a modern 80-minute paraphrase on the non-preserved opera of 1913 by composer Mikhail Matyushin and poet Alexei Krushenih “Victory over the Sun”. In that opus, in a futuristic language, it sang that strength and technique would defeat the power of nature and a feeling, like a new electric light - over the obsolete sun.

Now, in fact, nothing has changed. Behind the leader of the new formation with the animal nickname bi-b-bo, people against their will go towards an abstract bright future, chanting English: "Today we have universal endowment with happiness, the turnout is strictly binding." - "And if I have other plans?" “There can be no other plans.” But happiness is a violent getting rid of memory. And thus, as through a meat grinder, a lot of iconic plots from the literature of the twentieth century is allowed.

With the guest, which in the opera is more important than the libretto (it was written by Olga Maslova and Igor Konyukhov), exactly the same situation. At first it seems that the musicians arranged a performance for the public, and the provocative performance, where the chaos of sounds is not reborn into music, the party for a dozen soloists are written with the maximum vocal and technical difficulty, the Intrada chamber chorus and the duet of the pianists-Katya Scanawi and Vladimir Ivanov-Rakievsky-play emphasized thunderly.

All characters are dressed in the aesthetics of the heroes of the paintings of Malevich (Fashion Director Igor Garanin). And the original of the “black square” arising in the depths of the hall along the whim of light and the shadow seems covered with spots. The audience is so amazed to actively votes in the intermission. However, if you listen, then through the deliberate game a melody appears in cacophony, the roots of which in the Soviet film and song classics. From the chorale to jazz ragtim, from baroque passages to "tart" marches and waltzes - the closer to the finals, the more fascinating the unraveling of the rebus. The reward is a way out of the maze.

- Ilya, why is the libretto of the opera “For the Black Square” written in English?

-It seems to me that I feel like an artist of the world, but at the same time, as my professor told me at the San Francisco Conservatory, I try not to lose my voice without embarrassing the Russian sound in my music, although I do not specifically pedal it.

- But you were born in Leningrad, studied in St. Petersburg.

- I graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory as a conductor and continue to engage in optionally with Professor Igor Efimovich Rogilev. I did not continue composer training in Russia simply because life has taken me to the United States. And I got there what I wanted. And with this luggage I move further through life.

- At the same time, you can now be called the “court composer” of the Bolshoi Theater - you are the author of two symbolic ballets for him, and today the theater ordered you the opera.

- It is so, but all this, of course, is an accident. As a rule, not the Bolshoi Theater invites me to work, but those people he calls. If the choreographer Yuri Posokhov or director Kirill Serebrennikov works comfortably with me, then this happens on their initiative. At the moment, the only exception, of course, is an order for me personally to a new opera.

- You are not afraid of such a responsibility - the opera for the Bolshoi Theater?

- No, it does not scare. Honestly, very inspiring. I have not yet begun to work on a party party - I just finished writing a libretto and was already eager for battle, because I know the troupe firsthand. You can say the soloists inspire me. There was no singer, for example, in the “Hero of our time”, which would never come up to me with the question: “Ilya, when will the opera finally be?”

I am a person who has come out of a choral school, and for me there is no instrument more ingenious than a human voice. I feel it. I myself love to sing. I am delighted with well -singing people. But I also delight me when I see how my music suddenly comes to life in the area in which I still do not understand anything, for example, in ballet.

- And after the situation with Nureyev - the deferred premiere - is it not difficult for you to continue contact with the big one?

- If we recall the story with Nureyev, then, of course, Cyril was very missing at rehearsals after the premiere of the premiere. And I am insanely interested in what Cyril will say when he comes out and see how Nureyev lives and develops in Bolshoi. This whole situation gave other colors, created another excitement, attracted another viewer. I remember the conversations that Nureeva needs to be canceled, because Serebrennikov was already under house arrest. People always require some radical measures, but this is not so obvious and simple. If Demutsky decided to cancel Nureev, how would he look into the eyes of those tremors to the people who participated in the production?!

And then, and now I weighed everything “for” and “against”. Again, this is due to the team, which right in the corridors of the Bolshoi Theater asks me to participate in his further creative life. Artists obviously love my projects. And the troupe is certainly outstanding. I discussed these issues, including with Kirill Serebrennikov, and he warmly supported me, which is extremely important to me. I was really lucky to find wonderful co-authors. And with Kirill Serebrennikov, no matter what, we will work in the future. We continue to discuss projects for the future, very interesting, both in the cinema and not in the cinema.

- Often composers say that they agree to work in the cinema only when they want bread.

- Honestly, from a financial point of view, a movie is less profitable for me than a large -scale musical theater than full -format ballets. I have a lot of movie offers, but those that I would like to write music, a little scanty right now, and so far they are all in a vague form. The last time I wrote movie music to the "student" of Serebrennikov.

–– What is happening today with Kirill Serebrennikov, is afraid of you, teaching you, or are you trying to ignore it?

- I do not ignore this absolutely flagrant situation that wildly outrages me. But is she frightening? No. I'm trying to understand what this situation means.

I see how amazingly Serebrennikov does some things, even being deprived of freedom. This delights and just strangles all that fear.

I understand that no one will take my head from my head. I can always write music, we can always write texts. And even put performances at a distance, as Cyril's experience proves. Of course, this is strange and difficult, but real. New artistic reality, a new milestone in art.

I always emphasize that one cannot fail to give the opportunity to be a citizen. I even have to speak out, including in my work, because it is a cut of time. I will once die, and God forbid, someone will begin to study my music and will understand what happened in the world at that moment. The future of modern academic music is seen in its relevance. Not in poster, straightforward topicalness, but in the fact that the statement lives along with time.

- Who will you work on the opera with?

- To date, only the composer Demutsky is known from the team. It is too early to talk about other details and personalities, because the work has not yet been written. Having taken as the basis of Alexander Green’s novel “The Shining World”, which is an amazing stage work for me, I just decided on the musical language, the concept and the format - this will be a big opera in two acts. But there is also no dates of the premiere. Now I am still working on a one -act ballet.

- Why, on the eve of the premiere at the Bolshoi Theater, did you need to present an opera project in the Tretyakov Gallery?

- This is such pampering, in a good sense of the word. I am pleased that my new work was interestingly executed on an unusual platform. You can, of course, argue about genres and styles. I, as a person who was sitting last year in the jury of the Golden Mask, perfectly saw the whole layer of our new music. And then we raised the question: what can be called an opera and what - no. I am interested in watching all this search. I myself am not involved in this process, I am on the other side. I am an unemotional person in life, but for me there is nothing more interesting than music, where any emotion is a very intimate feeling. I have long excluded from my work the task of doing something to surprise everyone with novelty.

Maria Babalova - especially for "New"