"I couldn't stand it and said, 'And now my sanctions!'
Until science finds the address of the human soul, artificial intelligence will be unarmed against Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Pathetic Symphony," Maestro Yuri Bashmet believes. For the seventh time, the People's Artist of the USSR is holding the Winter International Art Festival in Moscow, to which he invites foreign participants. Yuri Bashmet told Izvestia about why German Richard Strauss responded to the Battle of Stalingrad with music, Austrian Mozart helped the Finns earn money, and Englishman Sting brought the Russian conductor to tears.
"The power of foreigners' love for our public is higher than the risks"
— Yuri Abramovich, you are currently hosting a Winter Festival in Moscow, and on February 18 the Winter Festival in Sochi will begin. It is attended by musicians from abroad, even from countries unfriendly to Russia. How did you manage to lure them? Do they assess all the risks by coming to us now?
— The power of foreigners' love for our public is higher than the risks. A lot of my colleagues say that they will come with great pleasure, they are only worried about safety. I tell them that we guarantee it to them on the territory of Russia.
Violist Wilfried Strehle conducts a master class
They face problems upon returning to their homeland. There are examples. My colleague, an excellent violist, Professor Wilfried Strehle, worked for a long time in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the famous Karajan. He's a proud man. When I came here, I said: "I don't care what they do." But when he returned after the last festival, his contract was not renewed. It is clear that where an institution is funded by the state, politics guides all processes. He left saying, "Well, go to hell!" My colleague had two jobs, and that was at a private school run by Daniel Barenboim (a famous conductor and pianist. No one even asked him a question there.
— Will he come to us again?
— Yes, for sure. Simone Kermes, a wonderful singer from Germany, has come to our festival. She loves to tour in Russia very much, because there is a warm audience waiting for her. We will also have an Italian clarinetist soloist from La Scala, and bands from Italy and Spain will come.
Of course, they are afraid of returning, as they cannot anticipate the reaction on the ground. And there everything depends on specific people and on where they "eat". But no matter how much we are banned, the connections are not broken. For example, I also have some kind of arrangements for tours around the world. Nothing was canceled, everything just shifted in time.
Performance by singer Simone Kermes
— But now it's not covid, but sanctions that have caused the cancellation of performances by our artists.
— I see how events are developing. There is such shamelessness on that side that I think it's time to announce our sanctions. I've already done this once: I couldn't stand it and said, "And now — my sanctions!" I have previously given recitals at La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Tokyo's Suntory Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall. Now I don't see any more solo performances by serious violists there. Although there are good musicians, both my colleagues and students. But they can't do it. Time passed, but then it was possible.
— What are they replacing you with now?
— They have some kind of artificial intelligence stream going on. I don't want to offend anyone, but many people abroad have learned to play instruments with our help.
— Do you mean performers who studied in Russia?
- yes. And if not even with us, then with our masters. For more than a decade, the International Tchaikovsky Competition has attracted, for example, young professionals from Asia who perfectly feel the Russian spirit in the music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. This is the result of the fact that at one time a great student of Neuhaus, conservatory professor Vera Gornostaeva, traveled to Japan two or three times a season for a couple of months to teach. At that time, they could not offer her such financial conditions so that she could not just survive, but live with dignity. And now her students are coming, playing at the Tchaikovsky competition and receiving prizes.
Violinist Victor Tretyakov
It's the same story with one of the world's best violinists, Viktor Tretyakov. He taught at the Higher School of Music in Cologne, and over time, people who understood how to perform Russian music began to come to the Tchaikovsky Competition from there.
— And we are ready to teach everyone. I'm not sorry!
— This is our Russian "imperial tranquility". We are very good-natured and generous. We have raised the overall global level. In the USSR, the Stolyarsky School in Odessa was famous for its school. There were great teachers: Yankelevich in Moscow, Auer in St. Petersburg. Yasha Heifetz, who became an American star, David Oistrakh, Viktor Tretyakov and many other great violinists came out of there.
Yasha Heifetz
Our performing school has not sunk, because there are still followers and assistants of great masters who passed on knowledge to their students. I can name many names: Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Spivakov, Oleg Krysa. Our interest in classical music is constantly growing. We are open to discussing and accepting the most incredible experiments, because we do not lose the main thing — the desire to resist artificial intelligence in live music.
"Artificial intelligence is unarmed against Tchaikovsky's Pathetic Symphony"
— Do you think AI can really break into classical music?
— AI will help in many areas: in science, the defense industry, the army, and education. Amazing progress is possible there. But he will not be able to really compete with the work of the great masters. Until science finds the "address" of the human soul, artificial intelligence will be unarmed against Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Pathetic Symphony." I think it will take a very long time, but it will still be a failure.
The desktop of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky with sketches of the Sixth ("Pathetic") Symphony
— Do you understand how AI creates a work?
— An array of works is taken, the AI processes them and outputs a set of elements. Music is collected from them — sometimes cute and sweet, where not a single direct quote from the classics is repeated. But this is the music for the cartoon. It doesn't make you empathize, it doesn't make you think about life and death, about loyalty and betrayal, about good and bad. Everything is kind of neutral.
I remember Tchaikovsky's diary: he rides in a carriage, complains about the bad weather and separation from his family. He writes: "I'm getting sick, I'm getting sick..." I turn the page, and there: "Hooray! Got sick. Urgent music paper and a hotel!" What did he get sick of? Three to five notes. Will the AI be able to do it? I doubt. What Tchaikovsky wrote is immeasurably higher in a cosmic and divine sense than the writings of a robot.
— Art is not born by a robot...
— A genius needs an impulse. Beethoven began composing a symphony dedicated to Napoleon. He wrote it on the score: "To the great Reformer." While composing music, Napoleon declared himself emperor. Then Beethoven took a pencil and crossed out the dedication. "Emperor" is not the same as "reformer." Today it is one of the most performed works in the world — Symphony No. 3 ("Heroic"), but Napoleon is not in a single note there.
Monument to Ludwig van Beethoven
Another example. Richard Strauss started composing music after our victory in the Battle of Stalingrad. The result is an incredibly beautiful, touching and tragic "Metamorphosis." Do you know what the working title was?
—The Battle of Stalingrad?"
- no. You won't believe it — "Requiem for lost Germany". That is, a person of another nation and culture felt our victory acutely. And on the last page of the score, he used a quote from the funeral march from Beethoven's Third Symphony. Strauss did this with respect for the listener's intelligence: who knows, he will understand. It's important what kind of culture geniuses have, what traditions. He is a German, but he wrote a work that, in fact, glorifies the victory of the enemy. That's why we don't stop playing music by composers from other countries.
Richard Strauss
— Despite the fact that they forbid Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov?
— Those who forbid it are people who themselves belong to the world of "artificial intelligence". To put it bluntly, they are just fools. How can you live without love? And love is Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Gubaidulina. Forbidding them is like taking out of yourself a part of the soul responsible for the most exalted feelings given to us by God.
"I would like to whitewash the word 'pop'
January 27 is the 270th anniversary of Mozart's birth. He was once a popular composer, as they would say now, a pop singer. What is the secret of the longevity of his melodies?
— Mozart is the most difficult composer to perform. I would like to whitewash the word "pop" or replace it with the term "hit". Pop music implies a show, a backup dance, and elements of speculation. And a hit is a concise statement of the very essence, getting into the top ten. Last year we celebrated the anniversary of Andrei Eshpai. When the song "And it's snowing" started playing, the audience burst into applause. I didn't even know that the author was Eshpai, but I don't need to explain that it's a hit.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
— So Mozart was a hitmaker?
— Yes, but not in all the works. Many people only know Symphony No. 40. Thanks to the Nokia phone for this, which had a ringtone with a fragment of Mozart.
— Is there a recipe for creating a hit?
— In fact, the guru accumulates the essence of what is happening, an emotional impulse, an event. If you put it in a very clear and accessible way, the essay becomes a hit.
— You have devoted your whole life to classical music. But there was a period of your life when you collaborated with the Flowers group. Didn't you have an idea then: "Why did I go into classical music? Rock is what I need."
—No, not really. I was a freshman when I was offered a hack job — to come play and earn 30 rubles. Big money! The studio was in the church opposite the conservatory. I don't want to offend the Flowers band, but I came to Moscow from Lviv, where I played in a much more advanced band. At that time, Lviv, Vilnius and Minsk were considered the most advanced cities in fashionable music. There were "Songwriters" from Belarus and the fantastically virtuoso musician Vladimir Mulyavin. Yura Varum, Angelica Varum's dad, started in Lviv. We got the best equipment in Vilnius.
Violinist Yuri Bashmet's performance at the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition. Moscow, 1978
In Lviv, I gathered a group of guys from my music school: violist Igor Suliga, guitarists Sasha Sokolov, Borya Pivovarov, whom Oleg Lundstrom then invited to join the orchestra. There was also Sasha Balaban, who first set up the equipment, and then I taught him how to play the guitar. I could play drums, keyboards, and bass guitar myself.
"I almost burst into tears: Sting, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder!"
— How did you suddenly decide to retrain from a rocker to a classical performer?
— The Beatles ceased to exist, and my world collapsed. My brother advised me to listen to American jazz-rock: Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Earth, Wind & Fire. I tried to play it, but our instruments were lousy. It was a success because it was new to the public, but the real achievements seemed insignificant.
When, many years later, I turned up at Carnegie Hall for a charity concert organized by Sting's wife, all these stars were there. I almost burst into tears: Sting, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder! I admired their craftsmanship, traditions and equipment — it was chic! There are brass instruments, two percussion groups, and wireless microphones on stage... We didn't have anything like that back then.
Sting
— And then you didn't regret it?
— No, because improvisation in jazz is skill, knowledge, courage, flight. And improvisation in classical music is a break from gravity. This flight is divine. And for it to happen to you, it takes the efforts of dad, mom, and teachers. A classical musician is distinguished by his education, taste, and creative aspirations. This is a base that gives you the opportunity to soar. And you also need an "address" where you can always return. I have only one — Russia. I know that I am not a "throwaway" here.
— Have you noticed that classical music has become more popular, now it is not an art for the elite?
— Yes, I often think about it. When we go to the countryside, for example to Magadan, we don't know who will come to the gym. And suddenly we see ladies in evening dresses, men in suits with butterflies; we see a child crawling on all fours to the stage with a flower. At one performance, a guy stood up with a bouquet, and I asked: "Do you study music?" and he proudly replied, "I'm a pianist." The soul rejoices.
There was a case in Hong Kong. A Russian couple came to the concert, sat down at the exit. And right during the encores, the woman began to give birth. It turned out that she came specifically to recharge her batteries before the hospital. What kind of audience am I counting on? Let everyone come.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
