Musical heritage of the JINR Member States

Beethoven for all times

On 20 April, the second concert of the new cycle "Acquaintance through Music. The musical heritage of the JINR Member States" will be held in the JINR Cultural Centre "Mir". We talked about it with the director of the Dubna Symphony Orchestra Natalia Kastro and the conductor Sergey Pospelov in order to learn firsthand about the concert program, which this time is dedicated to Germany.

Natalia Aleksandrovna, this time the listeners will be waiting for the music of Beethoven. Not Bach, Wagner, Strauss, Weber or Brahms, but Ludwig van Beethoven. Why?

Each of the composers you listed would undoubtedly be worthy of becoming a prominent representative of the musical culture of Germany, in fact, each of them at different times was such a celebrity. But time itself chooses its heroes - thus, Bach's music, like the old Gothic cathedrals in Germany, aspires towards the heavens, to God, opposing itself to everyday routine. Wagner's music is reform, ambitious, corresponding to the revolutionary moods of 1848-1849. The music of Brahms is contradictory in its moods, conveying the complex spiritual world of a contemporary, but is very rationally formed in its language and forms. Everything was in a way the time demanded. The art of each of them is the culmination of an entire era in the history of music. But Beethoven is for all times, as an unfading ethical ideal.

Yes, Beethoven is for all times, that is why he is the most performed composer in the world today. What do you think is the secret?

I think, the secret is that the great composer Beethoven succeeded in creating masterpieces that were stunning in terms of their profound effect. Moreover, this effect is attractive both for listeners and performers! And of course the secret is that Beethoven's music is always relevant - the contemporary of each generation has been found in the composer. That is because courage, nobility, love, beauty, honesty, loyalty - everything that is shown in his music has always been important, for every era, for every nation. And today, when we have great expectation for the culture that unites us, Beethoven's music must sound and it sounds everywhere and hourly.

His violin and piano concertos accompanied by the string group of the Dubna Symphony Orchestra will be performed in the JINR Cultural Centre "Mir". Such an arrangement for a chamber ensemble is a very delicate, highly professional work.

Sergey Pospelov and Margarita Pospelova.

Sergey Petrovich Pospelov - Sergey Pospelov's father is a respectable man, a conductor, a violinist. His arrangements for chamber ensembles are a treasure trove for Moscow orchestras and of course for ours, as well! Yes, no doubt, this work requires fundamental theoretical knowledge and practical skills too. After all, this is not only a technique for transferring voices from one instrument to another, it is also composer's way of thinking, an understanding of the characteristics of various musical trends, styles, genres and forms.

Chamber music possesses an amazing effect, making you feel like the musicians are playing just for you. In your opinion, is the feeling of "having been chosen" important for the listener?

I'm sure, it's important. It's like a serious conversation, live, not on the phone, when something very personal is touched upon, when empathy either trust arises or conversely, there is a feeling of abhorrence, rejection. This is a kind of contact in which you cannot remain passive and indifferent.

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Sergey, Beethoven in his childhood played the violin and often enjoyed musical improvisation rather than playing from a music score. His father once said: "I can't stand it - play the notes, otherwise your playing won't mean much!" What do you think about improvisation?

Recently, I have been often asked about it... Yes, musicians with classical education are scolded for wrong notes from childhood. You need to play exactly what was composed, any freethinking is punished. But, believe me, the notes are not the ultimate truth, but just material with which you can work. For a musician, improvisation is born while playing. It is born - and in a second the performer may no longer remember it. He doesn't learn it in advance, doesn't compose or think it up beforehand, but just goes on stage and starts playing. And then he takes his audience with him and feels that he is on the same wave with his listeners. Then it immediately becomes easier to play, your energy swirls in the hall and returns to you ... Yes, I favor improvisation!

After Mozart's death in 1791, the Viennese Count Waldstein told the young Beethoven that if he worked hard enough, he would receive "the spirit of Mozart through the hands of Haydn." Indeed, the pieces of music of the early period were composed precisely under the influence of his predecessors. Tell us what this spirit is expressed in?

It should be noted that Beethoven really worked hard and he received "the spirit of Mozart through the hands of Haydn". The universality of artistic thinking, logic, the clarity of the artistic form unite Beethoven and his great predecessors. Feelings and intellect, tragic and comic, precise calculation and naturalness, ease of expression inherently harmonize in their compositions.

When Beethoven composed, he made sketches in albums - it provides invaluable knowledge of how he wrote music. What was in those sketches?

You are right, sometimes a note of the author suddenly found, sketches in the score can completely turn the performer's interpretation around. For example, Beethoven's last, String Quartet No. 16 in F major is still a mystery. The composer provided its cheerful finale with a note: "A solution found with difficulty" and two epigraph motifs. Under the first one - slow, tragic, of enquiring character it is signed: "Should it be?" Under the second one - energetic, assertive, in the tempo of allegro there is a note: "It must be! It should be!". Just think, how to play it?

The compositions of Beethoven combine monumentality and sentimentality. What is closer to you?

Since I am a student of Professor, People's Artist of USSR Eduard Grach, the expressive performing style, monumentality, amplitude are closer to me. But at the same time, how can we do without warmth of feelings, tenderness and love? Let it be sentimental, but how beautiful it is!

Interviewed by Eleonora Yamaleeva