Teodor Currentzis with the MusicAeterna team performed in Sochi. Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
Sochi residents are as lucky as ever. For the first time in the 16-year history of the Winter Arts Festival, Teodor Currentzis himself came here with the MusicAeterna team. The sexiest and most mysterious conductor of our time has long proven that the classics cannot be less popular than rock and pop. Entire halls gather for concerts; the public is ready to carry him, and on the internet it is easy to find pilgrimage tours to Currentzis, during which the ladies follow Theodor along the route of his tour, which they believe heals both soul and body from various ailments and misfortunes.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
They slander that among the conductor’s listeners there is mostly an unsuspecting audience, and that professionals do not attend the maestro’s concerts. But in Sochi it became clear that all this was a slander. Not only the entire composition of the Bashmet “New Russia” orchestra gathered to listen to Currentzis. The teacher Yuri Bashmet and the actor Yevgeny Mironov sat in the box closest to the stage. Besides, watching his reaction was no less interesting than watching Theodore’s movements.
For the huge team of “Eternal” the setting of the Winter Palace seemed like a small patch. Usually the orchestra plays standing up, this time the musicians were sitting on chairs. They all entered, but with difficulty. And the beautiful new accompanist Olga Volkova climbed on a special oar and for some reason laughed throughout the concert.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
It happens that before the performance, Currentzis fumigates the stage with incense. This time, he didn’t seem to smoke. Or not incense.
To a storm of applause, which is usually found with rock idols and the Beatles, he appeared. Usually, Theodore likes to wow the audience in skinny leggings, which make a spectacular combination with a boxy length of thick hair. However, for Sochi he prepared the most modest bow. Classic gala suit. No red laces. Moderate collation and Belarusian mustache.
The room froze in surprise.
The maestro played a program dedicated to the image of Italy by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The first number was “Francesca da Rimini”, a play based on Dante, which tells how a jealous husband killed them both for the innocent kiss of Francesca and Paolo while they were reading a book.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
The way Theodor conducted is worthy of a separate song. Either he flew like a gray eagle over the stage, then he crawled like a gray wolf along the floor, then like a terrible cobra he loomed over the accompanist Olga, demanding a solo, then he cast a sizzling look at the audience, telepathically shouting: ” Don’t shoot on phones! I forbid it.” And the public obeyed.
The master’s slender fingers, expressive like an illusionist, seemed to turn invisible settings on a huge radio, and the radio responded immediately. He played higher, lower, she lower, faster, slower. The teacher pointed at the harp with his fingers, and the harp played. The maestro played imaginary drums and they posted his boom-boom-boom. He waved his left sleeve, and it made a lake. He waved his right hand at him, and the white swans swam around the lake.
The public, as if spellbound, contemplated this spectacle, growling with joy and love. And in the finale, when the orchestra, with the dexterity of experienced synchronists, immediately raised the bows, squeals of girls and cries of “I love you” were heard.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
Once Vladimir Kekhman, angry that Theodore left Perm and moved to St. Petersburg, assured that Currentzis was the head of a technique:
“He has the lead conductor’s technique, he’s associated with the following: fast – slow – fast. He’s a small-form and limited conductor,” Kekhman said.
In a way, music critics might agree with the evil one. “Francesca da Rimini” was a few minutes longer. Moreover, at the moment of slowing down, Bashmet, who was fidgeting in his chair, simply rose up and, pushing Yevgeny Mironov with his elbow, began to wind an invisible handle, which represented a dynamo.
But Yevgeny Mironov did not even react. Resting his head on the railing, he never took his eyes off Theodore.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Concert Agency
He watched it during the “Italian Capriccio” and the entire “Romeo and Juliet” overture and the encore number – “Elegy” from the “String Serenade”.
Yevgeny Mironov likes to repeat that the artist is always learning and this process does not stop either on vacation or during the rest. Is there any doubt that a talented actor has found something to learn from a talented director?
The next day, Yevgeny Mironov, in the company of Elizaveta Boyarskaya, played at the acting concert “Eugene Onegin”. In the role of Onegin, Mironov looked no less convincing than Currentzis as a director.
