23.07.2012
Mikhail Tatarnikov: “Bach Is an Entire Musical Universe...”
The musical fabric of the ballet Multiplicity: Forms of Silence and Emptiness was woven by Nacho Duato from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, selecting and bringing together numerous excerpts from various Bach compositions.
Paradoxically, the ballet has never previously been accompanied by live music, only by a backing track. The Mikhailovsky Theatre premiere opens a new chapter in the life of this acknowledged choreographic masterpiece: the orchestra, choir, vocalists, and instrumental soloists will be participants in the production in their own right.
“We started by seeking out and identifying the sheet music”, says Mikhail Tatarnikov, the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the production. “All we had initially was a CD. This work, which turned out to be a vast undertaking, was carried out by Assistant Conductor Alexey Nyaga. The music in the ballet encompasses a great variety of genres: clavier music, compositions for organ and solo voice, choral works, excerpts from a cello suite, and even a cor anglais solo. There is music that everybody knows — for example, the minuet from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. The piece is part of the music school curriculum; children learn it in piano lessons. But there are also works that even professionals find difficult and are not always well known, in particular the final counterpoints from The Art of Fugue, including the one that Bach left unfinished, where the music written in his hand comes to an abrupt end...
“Bach’s music always makes particular demands of musicians, and this score, which encompasses the whole range of his work, from very simple pieces to extremely complex ones, is a real challenge for the orchestra and the soloists. The very difficult violin solos and the virtuoso viola solo are tasks for real professionals. The soloist in the premieres will be Vladimir Pogoretsky, one of the most promising St. Petersburg violinists, who is a young but very talented musician with a great future. The cello soloists will be Vadim Messerman and Elena Sergeyeva from the Mikhailovsky Theatre Orchestra. One very difficult orchestral excerpt relies on the skill of the trumpeters, and here I have to pay tribute to Anatoly Sakharov, who plays the first trumpet part brilliantly. An exceptionally important part in the score is played by organ music. There is no organ in the theatre, but we have been able to hire a wonderful instrument — an organ made by Johannus — and we have invited Alina Nikitina to play it. And, of course, I must mention the very high standard of our theatre’s choir. All the musicians realize that a great deal depends on them in the forthcoming premiere and are very enthusiastic about it”.
Paradoxically, the ballet has never previously been accompanied by live music, only by a backing track. The Mikhailovsky Theatre premiere opens a new chapter in the life of this acknowledged choreographic masterpiece: the orchestra, choir, vocalists, and instrumental soloists will be participants in the production in their own right.
“We started by seeking out and identifying the sheet music”, says Mikhail Tatarnikov, the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the production. “All we had initially was a CD. This work, which turned out to be a vast undertaking, was carried out by Assistant Conductor Alexey Nyaga. The music in the ballet encompasses a great variety of genres: clavier music, compositions for organ and solo voice, choral works, excerpts from a cello suite, and even a cor anglais solo. There is music that everybody knows — for example, the minuet from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. The piece is part of the music school curriculum; children learn it in piano lessons. But there are also works that even professionals find difficult and are not always well known, in particular the final counterpoints from The Art of Fugue, including the one that Bach left unfinished, where the music written in his hand comes to an abrupt end...
“Bach’s music always makes particular demands of musicians, and this score, which encompasses the whole range of his work, from very simple pieces to extremely complex ones, is a real challenge for the orchestra and the soloists. The very difficult violin solos and the virtuoso viola solo are tasks for real professionals. The soloist in the premieres will be Vladimir Pogoretsky, one of the most promising St. Petersburg violinists, who is a young but very talented musician with a great future. The cello soloists will be Vadim Messerman and Elena Sergeyeva from the Mikhailovsky Theatre Orchestra. One very difficult orchestral excerpt relies on the skill of the trumpeters, and here I have to pay tribute to Anatoly Sakharov, who plays the first trumpet part brilliantly. An exceptionally important part in the score is played by organ music. There is no organ in the theatre, but we have been able to hire a wonderful instrument — an organ made by Johannus — and we have invited Alina Nikitina to play it. And, of course, I must mention the very high standard of our theatre’s choir. All the musicians realize that a great deal depends on them in the forthcoming premiere and are very enthusiastic about it”.
