Leonid Desyatnikov - anniversary as a gift. Intellectual pleasure or love of experimentation

MOSCOW. On October 16, from the anniversary evening in the Tchaikovsky hall, the Leonid Desyatnikov festival began, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the composer.

We can only guess how he managed to maintain ironic elegance and the pursuit of perfection, without losing his mind, to pass between Scylla of charges of free treatment of a priori untouchables and Charybdis of spiritual bonds. Vladimir Sorokin compared his beautiful music with a broken branch rubbing in the windows.

Leonid Desyatnikov

Long before the current shameful story with the Tannhäuser, something similar happened with the innovative and brilliant Rosenthal Children. Cloned Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Mussorgsky, dying from poisoned vodka, other ideologically incontinent characters, words that are not included in the school spelling dictionary. Witty cacophony framed by brilliant music, art critics with Mokhov announced pornography. The ovations at the premiere, the feeling of fresh air, the nomination for a prestigious theater award, the appointment of the Bolshoi as musical director became a worthy response to fans of the beautiful uncomplicated innovation.

The anniversary festival and its first concerts presented the variety of Desyatnikov’s musical palette, its amazing harmony, aristocracy and intellectual fullness. This is his favorite powerful vocal Harms-Oleynik cycle, the ballet “Russian Seasons”, the creation of which was inspired by Gidon Kremer, and the unforgettable “Poor Liza”. Symphony, the literary basis of which was an English textbook and much more. Alien to officialdom, boredom, and politicized conjuncture, a fearless experimenter brilliantly weaving allusions to the great, Desyatnikov makes it possible to jump onto the bandwagon leaving the irreversible train.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru