The birthday of the Tchaikovsky Hall. A tragic past and great prospects

MOSCOW. Anniversary concert in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Spivakov, Matsuev and all-all-all.

On October 12, Tchaikovsky Hall celebrated its birthday under the motto “Relay of generations”. The symbolism of this name was emphasized by the composition of the invited performers, who became laureates of the Tchaikovsky competition in different years. The invisible conductor of the first concert in these walls in 1940, Alexander Gauk, as if passed the wand to Vladimir Spivakov, who took 2nd place in the 1970 competition. Paired with the maestro was Clara Jumi-Kan, whose performance by Chausson and Paganini caused a well-deserved ovation from the audience already on the first round in 2015. She was lucky to attend the school of an outstanding teacher Zakhar Bron in Lubeck, who had brought up world-class stars Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin at the time of teaching at the Novosibirsk Conservatory. The high level of the jubilee-nostalgic evening was also set by the performance of the duet of the winners - Masleev and Douglas, who presented a worthy interpretation of the Concert in C major of Bach. Mozart’s concert went to a trio led by Matsuev. The familiar expression, especially convincing in the encore played by Lutoslavsky, did not lead to casualties from musical instruments, as at one of the recent concerts of the honored virtuoso.

The reconstruction of the premises, carried out in recent years, not only helped to restore its historical appearance, but also achieved almost perfect acoustics. Yielding earlier in this aspect to the Great Hall of the Conservatory, now he successfully competes with him, guaranteeing perfect sound anywhere. The hall, in the configuration of which the innovative ideas of the director and a group of talented architects (Barkhin, Shchusev, Vakhtangov) are embodied, is close to the model of the amphitheater of the ancient Greek theater, providing an ideal view.

The current state of the concert venue, desired by performers of any level, is gradually becoming a materialization of Meyerhold’s dream. It was his theater that was supposed to move to the reconstructed building in the late 30s. The arrest of the director in 1938 and the dispersal of the troupe did not allow the implementation of grandiose plans. In 1940, the venue changed its profile and turned into a concert venue with a tragic history and a promising future.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru