For the last three years the Russian embassy has held traditional music soirees. These concerts were initiated by Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin and are dedicated to prominent creative figures of different eras. They have become a prominent event in the cultural life of Kyiv. The musical salons at the embassy are marked by the performers’ high professional level, most of whom are from Ukraine, their flawless style, and immaculate taste in selecting the program. One such concert was dedicated to the 90th birth anniversary of the Russian composer, Georgy Sviridov.
It was definitely no coincidence that the Sviridov concert began with vocal and choral pieces. The composer left a huge creative legacy, but its most important part is vocal music: songs, romances, cantatas, oratorios, and choral works. Alexander Pushkin and Sergei Yesenin were prophetic poets and they occupied the main place in the composer’s creativity. Sviridov was well versed in poetry and fine art, and his creativity organically combined spiritual might with philosophical depth. The Children’s and Youth Choir of the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater (artistic director A. Maslennykova) performed works from the Pushkin Wreath and choral pieces set to the poetry of Sergei Yesenin and Aleksandr Blok. The Ukrainian musicians’ interpretation of these compositions stressed the penetrating clarity of the music and the philosophical depth of the poetry.
The concert included two hits: “Romance” from the musical illustrations to Pushkin’s story “The Snow Storm,” penetratingly performed by the pianist Dmytro Tavanets, and the romance “Maritana” from the music to the play Don Cesar de Bazan, sung by Taras Shtonda to the accompaniment of the piano and choir. These two compositions are such a brilliant stylization of the era and genre that the general public often does not suspect these are not authentic 19th-century works but ones created by a 20th century composer, namely Sviridov. Small wonder, considering that Sviridov’s art relies on such sources as Orthodox religious songs, Russian folklore, and the intonational language of urban secular songs, marches, speeches — in other words, the audio material of the 20th century.
The star of the concert was the wonderful bass singer and soloist with the National Opera of Ukraine and Russia’s Bolshoi, Taras Shtonda, who generously shared his powerful talent with the audience. He performed the “Little Petersburg Song” set to Blok’s poetry, the folk song “Teardrop,” Pushkin’s “Winter Road,” and “The Forest Is Shedding Its Crimson Dress.” Listening to such subtle and sensitive singers as Shtonda, one becomes keenly aware of Sviridov’s music as a classical heritage of the 20th century, owing to its depth, harmony, and close ties with the rich traditions of Russian musical culture.
