"Petya, the wolf and Volodya the musician" 6+

On December 26, 2021, the performance of Yegor Peregudov and Peter Aidu "Petya, the wolf and Volodya the musician" will take place at the Russian Academic Youth Theater. The authors define the genre as "symphonic circus". The performance is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the world famous symphonic fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf", written by Sergei Prokofiev, commissioned by Natalia Sats especially for the Central Children’s Theater in 1936. Then the text from the author was read by Natalia Sats herself.

It is based on the musical fairy tales "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev and "Volodya the Musician" by Leonid Polovinkin. The orchestra without a conductor is combined with a symphonic tale and a drama theater. The objective of the experiment is to rediscover the legacy of the Soviet avant-garde for the modern public and teach children to perceive symphonic music.

The musicians of the Persimfans Orchestra refused the services of a conductor a hundred years ago - in 1922, and today, on the stage of the RAMT, they completely violate symphonic etiquette. In masks of animals from the herd of the pioneer Volodya, they graze in the meadow with violins and oboes in their hands.

Director Yegor Peregudov:

“The experiment in this work is a combination of the rather conservative world of classical music with theatrical elements, play and hooliganism, without which it is difficult to imagine a modern theater for children. The search for a sharp, grotesque form for Soviet moralizing children’s stories is a necessary condition for the theater’s dialogue with today’s audience. The musicians of "Persimfans" become dramatic artists, and the artists of the RAMT play music and do rhythm-declamation. "

Director Petr Aidu:

“We work with scores by Prokofiev and Polovinkin, turning them into ’instrumental theater’ - a later phenomenon related to the post-war avant-garde. The playing musicians turn into actors using the instrumental solo as lyrics. Music becomes the main means of expression - like remarks and monologues in a drama theater.

The artists’ freedom of movement takes us as far as possible from the bus seating of the usual orchestra:

The Clarinet Cat’s pursuit of the Flute Bird flying under the grates is solved as a circus act. The oboe duck plays a gentle and sad solo right from the bath, while the Wolf rides around the stage on a Ural motorcycle.

This is possible precisely on the territory of Persimfans, where the personality of the musician, subtle interaction and co-creation are most important. "

ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA

Persimfans (an abbreviation for the FIRST SYMPHONIC ENSEMBLE without a conductor) is an orchestra that continues the musical ideas of the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s. A union of musicians, artists and researchers, united by the idea of performing music outside the authoritarian system of the usual orchestra. This concept resonates with today’s ideas for horizontal theater. The abolition of the hierarchy turns performers into authors, all decisions are made in the process of free debate, and the symphonic form is permeated by the spirit of free author’s expression.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE

In 1936, Natalia Sats commissioned composers Sergei Prokofiev and Leonid Polovinkin to work in a new genre of symphonic fairy tales - especially for the Central Children’s Theater (CDT). The concept responded to the most advanced ideas of the time: to make academic music accessible to the general public, to teach children to perceive symphonies, and to give orchestral music the freshness and sincerity of a “childish” genre.

By order of Natalia Sats, two works were created: "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev and "Volodya the Musician" by Polovinkin. But the exact opposite fate awaited them. The symphonic fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf" became a world hit, and the score "Volodya the Musician" was not even published and was never performed outside the Central Theater Theater. Thus, the RAMT project returns to the map of academic music the undeservedly forgotten name of Leonid Polovinkin - “the quiet genius of music,” as Natalia Sats said about him.