The Foremost and Best Christmas Tree

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The leading New Year’s/Christmas tree in all of Russia will come from a forest in Zvenigorod in the Moscow Oblast. This year, there were 15 contenders for this position, and all of them had the necessary attributes, they were all tall and broad, with green fluffy branches. A special commission went about the forests of the Moscow Oblast  from the beginning of autumn; they were looking for the best of the best trees to the leading Christmas tree in the country. As a result of their work, the commissioners each assembled a portfolio of the eligible candidates, according to Igor Parkhomenko, the first deputy head of the Government of the Moscow oblast. “We assembled a fairly extensive list of trees and all of them possess the necessary qualities. They are from different areas with quite distinct topography. What unites them all is that they are all very beautiful”.

For many years, the Kremlin Christmas tree came from the legendary home of Ded Moroz (Grandpa Father Frost) in Veliki Ustyug. This is only the second year since the Moscow government returned to a tradition of the time of Tsar Pyotr Veliki, when the New Year tree came from the forests of the Moscow Oblast. The pre-revolutionary tradition of placing the New Year tree on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square was revived twelve years ago. The current Kremlin tree is some 110-years-old, it is more than 30 metres tall, the branches spread out for approximately 16 metres, and it has a thick straight trunk and large downy “paws” (branches). Large garlands are going to be hung on the tree, said Viktor Savchenko, an official of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. “You always want something new for the holidays. This year, we bought new garlands. We examined the branches, and they look strong enough to hold them”. So far, the chosen tree still stands in the Zvenigorod forest and it is scheduled to be felled on 19 December. Now, a road is being prepared so that a 40-metre trailer-truck can haul away the tree. Once the tree is cut down, it will take two more days to carefully pack and load it on the truck. Then, on 25 December, the fluffy tree will greet guests in the Kremlin from all over Russia.

15 December 2008

Yekaterina Antropova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=93552&cid=22&p=15.12.2008

Happy Birthday, Maestro!

Maestro Yuri Temirkanov (1938- ), musical director of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Society

Stars of the Musical Olympus feted world-renowned Russian conductor Yuri Temirkanov on his 70^th birthday. A grand gala entitled Happy Birthday, Maestro! Is to be held today, 12 December, in the Great Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Society.

“Conducting… this is a profession for the second half of life”, is a favourite saying of Yuri Temirkanov. Interestingly, he was only in his thirties when he led his first orchestra, and he soon became the artistic director and principal conductor of the celebrated Mariinsky Theatre, where he directed legendary performances of Yevgeni Onegin by Tchaikovsky, Voina i Mir (War and Peace) by Prokofiev, and Mertvye Dushi (Dead Souls) by Shchedrin. Now, for some twenty years, Yuri Temirkanov has been the permanent director of Russia’s oldest professional symphony orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Society. He was elected to this post by the musicians… what a rare honour! Rehearsals with his ensemble are the most precious thing to Maestro Temirkanov.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto nr 1, soloist is Denis Matsuev

Maestro Temirkanov is known throughout the world, he has stood at the podium of virtually all the leading symphonic ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Royal Philharmonic, and the Dresden Philharmonic, besides being the music director of the Teatro Regio di Parma (Parma Royal Theatre) in Italy, as well the organising conductor of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. Critics consider that performances by Yuri Temirkanov are master-readings of the classical repertoire. But, according to Maestro Temirkanov, his biggest critic is… himself.

“I don’t wish to slight the subject, I confess I am not good with words, but, in essence, what is music? Music… it’s something I feel with my heart, not with my head. The older I get, the more I become a ‘reactionary’. Frankly, I don’t like what is called ‘modern music’. Sometimes, it is a set of sounds that can be very competently written, very professional, but, it seems to have no relation to real music, therefore, I rarely even look at it. I don’t play beautiful music; it seems to grow of its own accord. To me, it’s really very simple, I don’t waste much time thinking about it”.

Tchaikovsky Symphony nr 6 Pathétique

For his birthday, Maestro Temirkanov received many greetings and gifts. President Dmitri Medvedev, in his birthday greeting said, “All around the world, the name of the Maestro Temirkanov embodies the depth and spiritual wealth of the Russian national culture, its authority, and the great traditions of the Russian school of performance”. President Medvedev also awarded Maestro Temirkanov the Order “For Service to the Motherland” of the First Class.

As a birthday tribute, the famous cinema director Aleksandr Sokurov presented a copy of his new film Rehearsal, which is a documentary of Yuri Temirkanov interacting with his orchestra. The distinguished composer Rodion Shchedrin dedicated the symphonic overture Vivat! to Maestro Temirkanov, its première shall be at the special birthday gala on Friday.

Dmitri Khvorostovsky singing an aria from Pikovaya Dama, orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov

Maestro Temirkanov refers to this event with irony, considering it a grim reminder of his age, which he does not feel. “On top of all that, some fool is going to babble about the ‘stages of his creative path’”, he wryly noted. Recalling old Eastern wisdom, he went on to say, “Fools do not grow wiser with age, they only deepen their stupidity. The fact is, if an artist can’t express himself coherently, it means only one thing… his creativity has died”.

At the gala concert, Maestro Temirkanov shall not be at the podium… a rare opportunity to be just a simple member of the audience. However, the pause will be short-lived. He shall be back in harness on Sunday, 14 December, conducting his orchestra at the opening of the International Music Festival Ploshchad Iskusstva (Square of the Arts). He will lead a performance of works by one of his most favourite composers, Sergei Prokofiev.

12 December 2008

Tatiana Zavyalova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=93205&cid=24&p=12.12.2008

Person of the Year

Maestro Valery Gergiev (1953- ), musical director of the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg and the London Symphony Orchestra. For him, it was personal… Maestro Gergiev is Ossetian, a member of a nationality slated for extermination by Mikhail Saakashvili and his foreign backers.

“If one has to name a conductor that has the status of living legend, then, one has to name the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev”. A foreign critic wrote that concerning the distinguished director of St Petersburg’s famous Mariinsky Theatre. In the normal course of events, Valery Gergiev would be a logical challenger for the title of “Person of the Year”. But, one concert especially spotlighted this eminent musician and human being and highlighted his sense of civic consciousness. On 21 August, in the still-smoking ruins of the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, after its shelling by Georgian invaders, Maestro Gergiev lead the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in a concert on the main square, under the open sky. It was a requiem concert dedicated to victims of the Georgian aggression in South Ossetia, which was broadcast by many TV channels. Turning from the improvised stage to face the audience, Valery Gergiev then said, “The main thing is that we should tell the entire world what happened here on the night of 7/8 August, when the Georgian aggressors shelled a sleeping city. Furthermore, if it were not for the aid given by Greater Russia, there would have been even more victims. Those who had hoped that their actions would go unpunished and unnoticed, well, they miscalculated”.

Valery Gergiev is unquestionably a man of integrity and impeccable character, but, he was criticised unfairly by the foreign media, which tried to accuse Russia of an act of aggression against Georgia, they tried to portray it as an attempt to seize a smaller country. Gradually, many people opened their eyes and started to see the truth. In a special interview with Voice of Russia, Maestro Gergiev said, “The concert in Tskhinvali was a piece of truth that the world refused to recognise at first. It was not an accusation of Georgia and the Georgian people, but, it was a protest against the merciless killing of innocent civilians, including children, all of which I saw with my own eyes. Today, it is my sincere desire that we would be able to act in such a way that there shall be no more occasions for similar memorial concerts”.

The world-wide popularity of Valery Gergiev borders on that of popular rock stars. This year, his name is again on the list of nominees for the prestigious Grammy music award, for his recording of Tchaikovsky’s opera Yevgeni Onegin with the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Maestro Gergiev is the director of two orchestras, both of which are considered amongst the twenty best symphonic ensembles in the world, the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has an entry in the Encyclopaedia Luchshie Lyudi Rossii (The Best People of Russia). Moreover, just the other day, on 13 December, the musical and public activity of Maestro Gergiev was honoured by an international award from the St Andrew the First-Called Foundation. The name of Valery Gergiev is a symbol of today’s Russia, which has allowed this musician to develop his talent to the fullest. This most-talented cosmopolitan musician, who is at home throughout the world, also spreads Russian culture as far as he can, generating ever-newer and greater interest in Russia and its fine arts.

15 December 2008

Olga Bugrova

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=93561&cid=24&p=15.12.2008