“A rake is the other side of success. Another life? Kirill Kondrashin conductor

Trouble doesn't come alone, she loves company. High-ranking artists conspired against Kondrashin. The chief conductor of the State Orchestra more than once actively suppressed all proposals of his artistic council about inviting Kondrashin. Gennady Rozhdestvensky was fired from the BSO. If you can’t fix things, the orchestra decided, then you shouldn’t lose a good opportunity: now Kondrashin is free - you have to ask him to become the main one. He is a brilliant conductor, having recently made an excellent recording of Brahms' Symphony No. 3 with the BSO. But the chairman of the radio committee, Lapin, who was in charge of this team, was on the alert and indignantly rejected these proposals. Of course, Vladimir Fedoseev, who came to the BSO, also diligently protected the team from such an interpreter (and what about the music when culture is trying to strangle one of its best representatives!).

Moscow blocked all the conductor's roads to Kondrashin. He quickly turned out to be of no use to anyone. The Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR with vicious silence tested its recent minion, and now the rebellious disobedient master. Only two musicians turned out to be uncompromising and consistent in their friendship and love: Dzhansug Kakhidze and Israel Gusman, who gladly invited Kondrashin to their orchestras, where they were chief conductors. Moreover, Kakhidze, after all, at one time suffered from Kondrashin's injustice (he did not guess in him a wonderful musician and a bright conductor and did not miss one of the conductor's competitions, which he headed, to the final round). In addition, Kakhidze endured the whims of the exhausted maestro, who changed programs and dates on the go.

In conversations, Kondrashin repeatedly mentioned the exploitative attitude towards the artist in the Union. And opposed the West. “There,” he argued, “my every visit is for people, music lovers, holiday. Everything revolves around you. The press is very active and efficient. In Russia, in my life I have not received a single operational review - only after quarters and six months. There, the day after the concert, I read fifty! In the West, you are really and forever needed, ”said Kirill Petrovich.

Of course he was wrong. Unfortunately, everything that the maestro listed in our conversations is all attributes of touring life. There is no permanent cloudless existence in art anywhere on Earth. And, once in the West, he felt it immediately after the first appeals to the entreprise ... The maestro thought that there would be eternal fireworks, but he came across frightened people hurriedly building bridges to our offices, wanting to find out if the Ministry of Culture would break other contracts concluded under his initiative.

However, not everything has been said about the pre-departure situation. So, the maestro was going on tour to Holland in November. Many years of work connected him with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. One of the best European ensembles, the Concertgebouw, appreciated Kondrashin as a brilliant interpreter and as a rare musician with the gift of pedagogical skill. The orchestra became more interesting, the face of the collective was more clearly manifested in it after constant communication with Kondrashin. And Kirill Petrovich, over the years, becoming more and more aware of his interest in the unfussy formation of the orchestral style, his school of orchestral playing and conducting, highly appreciated this cooperation. The directorate of the orchestra the day before invited him to be co-chief conductor (together with Haitink). But, going on tour, Kondrashin could not be sure that they would take place. Because of health.

This is another important reason for leaving. In the year of departure, due to excessive nervous experiences, Kondrashin began to deaf. He did not advertise this, and apart from those close to him, no one knew about the growing deafness. let go long hair to mask the hearing aid. Obviously, he feared that insufficient hearing would be another obstacle to allowing foreign tours, which remained for him the only opportunity. concert life. (Meanwhile, he heard music perfectly, which suggests that the deafness was a nervous reaction to events.)

There was another old diagnosis that brought a lot of trouble on the part of the medical authorities who signed certificates of permission to travel abroad. The maestro had an aortic aneurysm, and before the last tour, his attending physicians from the Kremlin Hospital doubted whether it was worth flying, because it was dangerous. I had to turn to the chief specialist in vascular diseases - an academician, and he, having called doctors for an interview, made a more benign diagnosis, removing responsibility from those who give certificates for departure. Thus, the tour could take place this time as well. However, it is quite clear that this permission may be the last, and in the near future he will remain completely free from everything: without touring at home, he will not be able to tour abroad.

Such were the circumstances preceding the last tour of Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin. And now a question for the reader - how would he act in the place of the People's Artist of the USSR, conductor Kirill Kondrashin?

Fate, meanwhile, revealed its trump cards. Arriving in Holland, Kondrashin received an invitation to take the post of chief conductor of the Dutch Radio Orchestra in Hilversum. And this is in addition to the fact that he already had a co-chief conductor in the Concertgebouw orchestra. This position is a consequence of intergovernmental agreements, which could be interrupted by an angry ministry in case of non-return. A free place in the radio orchestra could very soon be taken. The situation called for a decision. He declares his decision to stay and remains in hope for Hilversum. The directorate of the "Concertgebouw" is afraid, now not because relations with the Soviet departments will deteriorate, but because they will not be able to find such a conductor. The orchestra, they believed, did not need just an "evening-conduction" (a conductor who makes an impression at a concert); the orchestra needs a universally equipped master: both an interpreter and a fruitful pedagogical influence.

The event series of the life of the maestro of that time was full of possibilities, confirming the outward correctness of non-return. The orchestra was allowed to extend the contract with Kondrashin. Fate has conquered life. She always wins when they don't fight her, but lay out a list of weighty reasons. Relatives, friends and numerous genuine admirers of his art in the homeland remained destitute. He hoped that we would understand him. We understand everything and forgive everything, this is not the first and not the last blow ...

On December 9, 1978, his wife returned from Holland and confirmed everything said by "voices" - "The Maestro remained!" On the same day I met his ardent admirer of orchestral musicians, a man of faith. “I know everything,” the musician said with calm sadness, “I ordered a prayer service for our Cyril ...” And he began to mutter some kind of ornate phrase, from which I only heard the last sentence: “Lord, forgive him, the erring one ...”

During the years of stagnation, we have lost many eminent figures culture. Some forever. Among them is Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin. His forced non-return did not bring happiness to anyone: neither his family, nor Western culture, nor to himself. Knowing the maestro, we can assume that he spied all the letters of fate in advance. He knew the ending. Proof of this are his letters to his wife, wills written in advance, refusals to speak out about the reasons for leaving, from questions about political views. He talked on the phone with his wife Nina Leonidovna Kondrashina more often than a person who wanted to part with one world forever in favor of another should have spoken. He spoke and wrote about the irreparable. He knew fate and called her. Kondrashin's life in the West lasted a little over two years. On the eve of his birthday in 1981, the maestro died of a broken heart. He is buried near Amsterdam, in a permanent cemetery in an oak coffin with a transparent lid ...

March 6 marks the 100th birthday of Kirill Kondrashin, one of the most significant conductors Soviet era, laureate of two Stalin Prizes, People's Artist of the USSR, defector.

In 1978 he stayed in the West, in 1981 he died suddenly after the performance of Mahler's First Symphony at the Concertgebouw.

Several people different ages who have something to say about Kirill Kondrashin, got together: his younger friend and colleague conductor Alexander Lazarev, who worked for many years under his leadership in the Moscow Philharmonic trumpeter Vyacheslav Treibman, caught him at the very beginning of his professional life harpist Anna Levina and his grandson, cellist Pyotr Kondrashin, born in 1979.

Alexander Lazarev: As I now understand, the conductor of the city orchestra is such a city music teacher, this is a person who brings up the musical taste of the inhabitants of this city. This is a very serious and responsible position.

I was lucky because in Moscow during my childhood and youth there were three wonderful music teachers: Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin, Evgeny Fedorovich Svetlanov, who headed the State Orchestra, and Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, who led the radio orchestra ( Until 1993, the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra was called the Grand Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio and Central Television. - Ed.).

Kirill Petrovich led the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. This orchestra was not in the best financial position relative to such bands as Grand Theatre or State Orchestra. But thanks to his efforts, he stood with them on a par. Everything that Kirill Petrovich did aroused unprecedented interest.

These three luminaries-teachers had quite reasonably divided spheres not only of influence - spheres of interests. Kirill Petrovich was a Westerner. First, we must talk about the revival of his efforts of Mahler's music in Moscow. It was in Moscow, in St. Petersburg, that she was played. And from Mahler - the road to Kondrashinsky Shostakovich. To this we must add wonderful performances by Kirill Petrovich of Western classics, including the symphonies of Brahms and Beethoven, which, in my opinion, he succeeded more than other teachers. So I classify him as a Westerner.

Yevgeny Fedorovich immediately announced that no one but him could feel Russian music like that, comprehend it in all its depth and power of culminations. He put himself in this place - well, apparently, the memory of Golovanov haunted.

Gennady Nikolaevich, due to the specifics of the radio orchestra, performed a lot of different things, but first of all - music contemporary composers, good and bad. Because if you only play good music Why then a radio orchestra? For this, there is both the State Orchestra and the Philharmonic. This was the case with radio orchestras not only in our capital, but also in other parts of the world.

And there were three gardens in which these three wonderful artists cultivated their cultures. Naturally, someone from someone's garden sometimes took something for himself. Best of all, Kirill Petrovich succeeded in this. He intruded into the interests of his other colleagues very successfully. I will not forget his wonderful performance of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. I remember his Hindemith programs, Stravinsky programs.

I cannot say the same for others. Let's say I remember Evgeny Fedorovich with Mahler's symphonies. It was so. I'm talking about the 60s - early 70s. Later, in the 90s, of course, it was not that “cultivation”, but he found his image. This is different. But in those years when the State Orchestra allowed itself to raise a hand against Mahler, I cannot say that this was due to success.

I will never forget how, in the quietest Intermezzo of the Seventh Symphony, people came out of Great Hall conservatory, slamming the door violently on purpose. I was a witness to this. At the same time, it is difficult for me to remember who better than Svetlanov performed Rachmaninov's Second Symphony in the 1960s.

The breadth of Kirill Petrovich's interests, his programs have always aroused deep respect in me. Because it was work. And in this sense, for me there is a parallel between Kondrashin in Moscow and Mravinsky in Leningrad. Nothing like it exists today. Neither in Moscow nor in Leningrad. I mean - such a conductor's work, scrupulous, detailed, to the end.

I was not a student of Kirill Petrovich at the Conservatory, but I believe that I received a colossal education sitting on the wing of the mezzanine of the Great Hall of the Conservatory at the rehearsals of all three orchestras. That is, classes began at the conservatory - at 10 am - and I went to the hall. Some of the orchestras must have rehearsed. And I had the opportunity to observe the level of preparation of the conductor for the rehearsal.

This is easy enough to determine - when the conductor comes ready and knows what will happen, or when he is surprised to find something that he has not seen before in the score.

I had no doubt that everything that Kirill Petrovich did was thought out, verified and prepared. I would probably put the accuracy of performance in the first place in his conducting. This, of course, limited freedom. It is difficult to talk about conductor's improvisation here - the same thing happened in Mravinsky's orchestra. But at the same time - all balancing, all dynamic shades are verified. His favorite expressions were - "bite off", "bite off and not swallow." This means - to complete the sound how to cut. So that nothing remains, no echo, nothing.

Kondrashin organized the rehearsal wonderfully. I did an intermission when a section ends - be it an exposition, development, some part. In general, some understandable fragment. He counted literally to the second. It is very important.

Musicians should have a sense of some form of rehearsal. You can, of course, and so: anarchy - the mother of order. But, in my opinion, people are more tired of this.

The orchestra was, as I said, not the highest paid. Although there were, of course, great musicians in it. The ovens were good. But it cannot be said that the string players were of the same level as in the Bolshoi Theatre, the BSO, the State Orchestra and the Leningrad Philharmonic. Despite this, Kirill Petrovich still achieved remarkable results from string players.

And his art is amazing! - seemed to double in quality when he came to the Leningrad Philharmonic or the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Where were marvelous strings.

His recordings are still interesting to listen to. As well as Mravinsky.

We now really lack such a conductor, a teacher. I'm not saying that a conductor in Russia is not only a conductor. He is still a mother and a nanny.

I just went to Novosibirsk. There, of course, they treated the memory of Arnold Mikhailovich Katz much more worthily, who had dreamed of leaving Novosibirsk all his life and had worked there all his life. He arranged musicians there and in polyclinics, and their children in kindergarten, and knocked out apartments. And Kirill Petrovich was the same.

Now a new one has been built in Novosibirsk concert hall and gave him the name Arnold Katz. And here, in Moscow, they can't even put a memorial plaque on Kondrashin's house, there's nothing.

Vyacheslav Treibman: I remember we had a flutist Alik. He had a residence permit in Dnepropetrovsk, and he worked in Moscow, and there was an order to evict him almost in 24 hours. So Kirill Petrovich arranged a telegram personally to Khrushchev signed by Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Oistrakh and someone else! And Alik was not evicted.

At that time, a house was being built on Butyrsky Khutor (not far from the prison), where Kirill Petrovich knocked out a certain number of apartments for musicians. The family got apartments, Alik, because he was lonely, got a room.

Alik said that when they were in Paris, Kirill Petrovich bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower for the entire orchestra. And I remember when we were in Colombia - suddenly dad (as we called Kirill Petrovich) suddenly comes with a hefty bag. There were fried cockroaches in the bag - for us to try. And everyone ordered a beer.

I still remember that we came to Stockholm. Just for a day. No overnight stay. After the concert, immediately on the train. Our things were dumped somewhere and just covered with a net. And they said - walk around the city. We decided to save money on a hotel.

Kirill Petrovich was terribly indignant. And then the impresario said: choose - either you will make a good dinner for the guys now, or there will be no concert in the evening. He made dinner - it still turned out cheaper. And Kirill Petrovich told us: guys, do not eat, but eat! And take it with you!

Lazarev: Servant to the king, father to the soldiers.

He was a Bolshevik and joined the party in 1941. He then worked at the Maly Opera Theater in Leningrad. He was 27 years old. The war has begun. Absolutely everything is clear, in general.

And so he carried this cross. Late 60s. Travel abroad began, and no one knew who would return, who would not. The exodus has begun talented people from the country. At the Bolshoi Theater, for example, they took an oath - "we will go to the last" (meaning - until everyone stays). Such jokes are jokes. Official emigration was allowed in 1972.

And now the team is returning from the tour, Kirill Petrovich is called to the carpet and hit very hard on the head, they say that he failed the education in the team. He walks downcast. He understands that he really failed.

In the State Orchestra, the situation seems to be similar, people are also running. And Svetlanov (he was non-partisan) declares - that’s it, I won’t work with these bandits anymore, I’m writing a statement, they are such traitors. And the leaders from the ministry are pleading: dear father, stay, don't leave! And Kirill Petrovich at this time walks with a downcast head.

Tribeman: I remember summer seasons in Jurmala. There was a rest house of the Central Committee. But Kirill Petrovich lived with us, all the amenities are in the yard, the telephone is opposite. And walked with us to the dining room. Traveled with us on the bus. And his wife, Nina Leonidovna, also went. Moving 12-15 hours. Although he was persuaded to fly by plane. He was already old, after all. No no.

Lazarev: What has never been in the neighboring team. At Svetlanov. Everything was completely different there. And Mravinsky too. It was "I don't know you".

And what did this democracy of Kirill Petrovich lead to? He was also offered in 1964 to head the State Orchestra. To which he said no, he has a team with which he is one. And stayed. And then his love and respect for everyone ended with the fact that he and the team entered a state of mutual intolerance.

Tribeman: There were only a few of them!

Lazarev: Well, several people! I remember those years. He invited me to Jurmala for the first time, it was probably 1972. Kirill was very excited, I remember his condition, it was already a discord. All love has been poisoned. And in 1975 he left the orchestra.

Anna Levina: Unfortunately, I had very little time to work with Kirill Petrovich. One of my first strong impressions is this.

There was an absolutely fantastic timpani player Edik Galoyan in the orchestra, simply legendary. And it was already known that he was leaving for the BSO. And you yourself understand how insulting it is for any conductor. Nurtured him, and he's like this. But in the BSO, the salary was one and a half times higher.

And here comes the rehearsal. Edik played something wrong. Kirill made a remark to him. He just said something abruptly - there was nothing rude, no rudeness - then he threw his wand and left. Everyone understood that he was just very hurt and hurt. Before intermission time. After it, we return all the crippled ones, what will happen? He stands at the remote control and says: Edik, I'm sorry, I made a remark to you in an incorrect tone.

That is, he could call him ten times to his conductor's room - since he really wanted to apologize! Although you might not want to - as often happens. But to go out and start with this second race - that was probably the first strong impression for me.

Maybe also because I was terribly afraid of Kirill Petrovich. My knees were just trembling. Although he treated me surprisingly well.

I remember I just joined the orchestra. And the conductor Charles Bruck comes to us. First rehearsal. The program includes "The Sea" by Debussy. And there is something to play the harp. I have no orchestral experience. And I came across old French notes, where the parts of the first and second harps go in a row on one page. I've never come across this before.

As a result, as soon as I turned the page, I naturally started playing the first line. And I was sitting on the second harp. And I understand that something is not right, the panic is terrible. And suddenly, quietly, a voice from behind: "A-nya." By syllables. Kirill Petrovich, it turns out, was standing right behind me. He knew that I was inexperienced. There was a feeling that they gave me a sniff of ammonia.

And by some miracle, everything became clear to me that I should play. Like a spotlight lit up.

Petr Kondrashin: At the same time, it is known that Kondrashin was a very strict person. If the trumpeter kicked, then he could look at him for about 15 minutes. So I imagine what it would be like for me if the conductor looked at me for 15 minutes in a row!

Tribeman: No, not 15 minutes! He watched to the end! And he articulated with his lips! We persuaded him: “Kirill Petrovich, when there are television cameras or when the audience is sitting behind the orchestra - please don’t make a face! Then it’s better to call the conductor’s room and do what you want.” But he couldn't.

However, if some dubious conductor came, whom he did not know, then he guarded the orchestra. He usually put a chair in a niche near the organ and sat there.

Once a certain conductor arrived, Kirill Petrovich was sitting in the back. There was Myaskovsky's 21st symphony. And from the very first measures, the conductor's remarks rained down on strings of this type: the note A on the D string, the note D on the A string. This went on for about 15 minutes. Suddenly, dad gets up - stop, to the conductor's room, please. And we ran to eavesdrop.

He says to him: “What kind of remarks are you making, what nonsense? So, the work plan is like this - now a run, tomorrow is a day off, the day after tomorrow is a day off, on the day of the general performance, in the evening there is a concert, and your spirit will no longer be here.

Moreover, what kind of conductors did he himself invite! Charles Bruck, Zubin Meta, Lorin Maazel, Igor Markevich, Jiri Beloglavek. Svetlanov went to America with us as a second conductor.

Kondrashin: That is, there was no jealousy towards colleagues at all. Although it is believed that it is not customary for conductors to be friends with each other. And I must say, when he left for Holland, he was not there, as many believe, the chief conductor of the Concertgebouw. Bernard Haitink was in charge there. And a place was opened for Kondrashin, which closed with his death - the place of the second chief conductor!

But he emphasized in every possible way that Haitink was in charge, and they had a very good relationship. Although it's hard to imagine how two principal conductors can tolerate each other.

Lazarev: And he supported the youth. He headed the competition conductor. In 1966, when there was a second competition, Temirkanov, Simonov, Maxim Shostakovich appeared.

My competition was the third, I had the first prize, Voldemar Nelson had the second. And immediately Kirill Petrovich invited us to his assistants. I said that I value ours with him too much good relations so I won't go. And Nelson said he would go.

They cooked there for a year. And a year later, everything turned out as I expected. Kirill Petrovich said that Nelson was a slacker.

I think that Kirill Petrovich did not quite correctly imagine the position of an assistant. In his opinion, the assistant had to follow him and write everything down. And he didn't do it.

And Nelson made another mistake. He went to Kirill Petrovich in graduate school. Which was absolutely impossible to do. That is, he got like chickens in a pluck. I was almost in tears. And I came to the lesson to watch how they fought each other, I was taken by terrible fun.

But I think Kondrashin was the only one who supported the young.

Kondrashin: He also wrote several very good books- "The World of the Conductor", "On the Art of Conducting", "On the Artistic Reading of Tchaikovsky's Symphonies". These are now bibliographical rarities. I want to reissue them.

Terribly interesting to read how he explains the music. For example, the first movement of Shostakovich's 15th symphony: people are coming on the street". Of course, Dmitry Dmitrievich did not write about this. Music cannot be explained in words at all, but in order for musicians to understand how it should be played, there must be some kind of image. You can't just say: play softer here, louder here. And grandfather said things that directly, perhaps, had nothing to do with this music. But the musician then played in the mood that he needed.

In these books - his third talent after conducting and teaching.

Tribeman: The last concert he conducted with us on his birthday, March 6, 1978, was Myaskovsky's Sixth Symphony. By that time he had already left the orchestra, he was a free artist, with us he had only two concerts a year. Then there was supposed to be a second concert, and posters were already hanging, but it did not happen - Kirill Petrovich remained in the West.

Lazarev: It was a surprise to me when he stayed. This unprepared modulation was absolutely.

Tribeman: Well in last years how did he get it? Friends - Shostakovich, Oistrakh - died. Galich has been expelled. Rostropovich left.

And, of course, he had a terrible resentment - he had just left the orchestra, and the orchestra had an anniversary, a booklet was released. Where he was not even remembered.

Lazarev: He stayed in December 1978. And three months later I had a concert in Amsterdam. And suddenly he calls me: “Sasha, is there a musicologist in civilian clothes with you?” - "No, Kirill Petrovich, I'm alone." - "Well, let's see each other?" - "Let's". - "Square Alte Opera, Oysterbar, at 12, I will reserve a table for the name Neumann, this is for conspiracy.

Exactly on the stopwatch, we entered the bar from both sides. What does it mean two people, though of different generations, but of the same profession! Accuracy. We sat talking for three hours. He said that this was the first meeting with the envoy of the country he had left. This was my last meeting with him.

Certainly he was sad. He asks: "Can you send the letter?" I say: “Of course, only you don’t shout about him now and don’t stick him in front of everyone.” He wrote something, we left, he handed it to me.

The next day, when I flew to Moscow, I was forced to empty my pockets at Sheremetyevo. Usually nothing like this happened. But the letter was in my back pocket, and I didn't get it.

Upon arrival, I called Nina Leonidovna. He asks: “Sasha, how did you get there?! And then, imagine, this fool calls me and says: Sasha is leaving tomorrow on a Moscow flight, he will bring you a letter! That is, Kirill Petrovich told her everything on the phone (laughs), and I believe that it has become known.

Kondrashin: The last time he conducted was in Amsterdam. Unplanned. There was supposed to be a concert by the Deutsche Radio Orchestra. Day. Mahler's first symphony. And in the first part - "Classic" by Prokofiev. And the conductor disappeared somewhere, something happened there. Prokofiev was conducted by an accompanist. And for Mahler, of course, some kind of maestro was needed. And they urgently called Kondrashin.

Condition - the orchestra had to play without a rehearsal. Grandfather, apparently, did not feel very well. But he played some other program in Germany with this orchestra a few months ago, in general, he knew him. And he agreed.

The then director of the Concertgebouw said that it was his idea to invite Kondrashin. The first part of the strings played very hesitantly, and he thought that if it goes on like this, he will lose his job. But then it got better and better. This recording has been preserved, and on my grandfather's birthday it will be broadcast on Orpheus.

Kondrashin is one of the few whose conductor's style can be heard on the recording. One can even hear that he conducted without a baton. As an orchestra player, I understand this very well. This pointer does not exist. He shows everything with his hands.

And this record is amazing. The orchestra is not his, it's not the orchestra that understands him from half a breath. And, of course, any professional orchestra can play Mahler's First without paying too much attention to the conductor. But you can hear that they play exactly the way he wanted. Especially the final. And, in fact, after this concert, he came home, he became ill, and he died.

Unfortunately, I did not see him, but I saw the recordings and, most importantly, heard the recordings. There are very few personnel left with him. All demagnetized. The most famous - with Oistrakh and Van Cliburn.

It cannot be said that his manner of conducting was beautiful, there were no poseur gestures. But he showed in such a way that, it seems to me, even for those who did not know how to play, it was impossible not to play.

Dad ( Pyotr Kirillovich Kondrashin, famous sound engineer. - Ed.) told me that the conductor, who says to the musicians: “Why don’t you look at me?” - it's not a conductor.

I can’t say that all my grandfather’s recordings directly delight me. But there are CDs from the Concertgebouw, everything live- Symphonic Dances, Ravel's Waltz, Daphnis and Chloe, Brahms' First and Second Symphonies, Beethoven's Third, Prokofiev's Third, Shostakovich's Sixth - this is a fantastic quality!

My father believed that by the end of his life, my grandfather had made a colossal breakthrough as a conductor. And his departure, of course, was not accidental. Having gone there, he completely changed the situation, the environment.

Imagine what it was for Soviet man. Everything else, plainly without a language, children and friends remained at home. Well, it's like monks leaving the familiar world. I think that there was a lot of tragedy in this story, but he understood what he was getting into. He wanted to justify with his work a very tough and difficult act for loved ones. After all, my father was even offered to change his last name when my grandfather left. Grandfather wrote:

“I hope you will not be ashamed of my name. If God gives me another five years, then I will have time to do what I have planned.”

He had already been invited to lead the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. But he lived only two and a half years.

Diploma winner of the 2nd degree of the 1st All-Union Competition of Conductors (1938)
Stalin Prizes (1948, 1949)
State Prize RSFSR them. M. I. Glinka (1969)
Awarded with the Orders of the Red Banner of Labour, October revolution, Big Gold Medal of the World Mahler Society (1973)

Conductor, teacher.

Born into a family of musicians. Initial musical education received at the Music School and the Music College. V. V. Stasova (piano). In 1931-36. studied at the Moscow Conservatory (class of opera and symphony conducting by B. E. Khaikin). He began his performing career as a member of the percussion group in the orchestra of the Opera Theatre. K. S. Stanislavsky, where he made his debut as an opera conductor (operetta "Corneville Bells" by R. Plunkett, 1934), led the amateur orchestra of the House of Scientists.

In 1937 he was invited to the Leningrad Maly Opera theatre, which was then headed by Khaikin. After the first successful independent work(opera "Pompadours" by A. F. Pashchenko) performed a number of major productions ("The Wedding of Figaro" by W. A. ​​Mozart, "Boris Godunov" by M. P. Mussorgsky, "Cio-Cio-san", "Girl from the West" by J. .Puccini). He also conducted ballets. In 1943-56. — Conductor of the Bolshoi Theater (operas The Snow Maiden by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, The Bartered Bride by B. Smetana, Pebble by S. Monyushko, The Force of the Enemy by A. N. Serov, Bela by An. N. Aleksandrov and etc.). According to Kondrashin, work in the theater largely shaped the principles of his approach to performance symphonic music, caused a desire to develop a modern, flexible performing style, to achieve a high culture of ensemble playing (Petrushanskaya R., 1975). The inclination towards symphonic conducting led Kondrashin to the Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra, which in 1949 received the Grand Prize of the Budapest Festival.

Since 1956, he has performed with various groups exclusively as symphony conductor. With his lively participation, the level of many domestic orchestras (Gorky, Novosibirsk, Voronezh) has significantly increased. He also collaborated with foreign orchestras, in particular with the Symphony Orchestra in Pyongyang (DPRK). He proved to be an excellent ensemble player and accompanist. Together with D. F. Oistrakh, he prepared the cycle “Development of the Violin Concerto” (1947/48; with the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR). Character traits the creative image of the conductor - the scale and emotionality of the performance, the virtuoso refinement of details, the ability to subjugate the orchestra (Oistrakh, 1974).

Played with E. G. Gilels (all piano concertos by L. van Beethoven). Accompanied the finalists of the 1st International Competition named after P.I. Tchaikovsky (1958). After that, in a "duet" with V. Cliburn, he toured the UK. Became the first Soviet conductor who performed in the USA (1958). Later he toured in many countries of the world (Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland). In 1960-75. — chief conductor Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic. Owned an extensive repertoire. The first performer of works by D. D. Shostakovich (Fourth and Thirteenth Symphonies, Second Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, "The Execution of Stepan Razin"), A. I. Khachaturian, G. V. Sviridov, R. K. Shchedrin, B. A. Tchaikovsky (dedicated the Second Symphony to Kondrashin), M. S. Weinberg (dedicated the Fifth Symphony to Kondrashin), Yu. M. Butsko, A. A. Nikolaev and others. Fifteen symphonies by D. Shostakovich, Six symphonies by L. van Beethoven, Seven symphonies by S. Prokofiev. Since 1978 he has been the 2nd Principal Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Netherlands). Kondrashin was also invited to become the chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

He taught at the Moscow Conservatory in 1950-1953 and 1972-1978.

Since 1984, the Kondrashin International Competition for Young Conductors has been regularly held in Amsterdam; since the early 1990s. the Kondrashin festival will be organized in Yekaterinburg.

People's Artist of the USSR (1972). The musical atmosphere surrounded the future artist since childhood. His parents were musicians, played various orchestras. (It is curious that Kondrashin's mother, A. Tanina, was the first woman to compete in the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra in 1918.) At first he played the piano ( School of Music, technical school named after V. V. Stasov), but by the age of seventeen he firmly decided to become a conductor and entered the Moscow Conservatory. Five years later, he graduated from the Conservatory course in the class of B. Khaikin. Even earlier, the growth of his musical horizons was greatly facilitated by classes in harmony, polyphony and the analysis of forms with N. Zhilyaev.

First independent steps young artist connected with musical theater named after V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. At first he played in the orchestra on percussion instruments, and in 1934 the conductor made his debut - under his direction was the operetta "Corneville Bells" by Plunket, and a little later "Cio-Cio-san" by Puccini.

Soon after graduating from the conservatory, Kondrashin was invited to the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater (1937), then headed by his teacher, B. Khaikin. Here the formation of the creative image of the conductor continued. He successfully coped with complex tasks. After the first independent work in A. Pashchenko's opera "Pompadours", he was entrusted with many performances of the classical and modern repertoire: "The Wedding of Figaro", "Boris Godunov", "The Bartered Bride", "Tosca", "Girl from the West", "Quiet Don ".

In 1938 Kondrashin took part in the First All-Union Conducting Competition. He was awarded a diploma of the second degree. This was an undoubted success for the twenty-four-year-old artist, given that the winners of the competition were already fully formed musicians.

In 1943 Kondrashin entered the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. The theatrical repertoire of the conductor is expanding even more. Starting here with "The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov, he then puts on "The Bartered Bride" by Smetana, "Pebble" by Monyushko, "The Force of the Enemy" by Serov, "Bela" by An. Alexandrova. However, already at that time, Kondrashin began to gravitate more and more towards symphonic conducting. He leads the Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra, which in 1949 won the Grand Prix at the Budapest Festival.

Since 1956, Kondrashin has devoted himself entirely to concert activity. Then he did not have his permanent orchestra. In the annual tour of the country, he has to perform with different groups; with some he collaborates regularly. Thanks to his hard work, for example, orchestras such as Gorky, Novosibirsk, Voronezh have significantly improved their professional level. The one and a half month work of Kondrashin with the Pyongyang Orchestra in the DPRK also brought excellent results.

Already at that time, outstanding Soviet instrumentalists willingly performed in an ensemble with Kondrashin as a conductor. In particular, D. Oistrakh gave him the cycle "Development of the Violin Concerto", and E. Gilels played all five of Beethoven's concertos. Kondrashin also accompanied at the final round of the First International Tchaikovsky Competition (1958). Soon his "duet" with the winner of the piano competition Van Cliburn was heard in the USA and England. So Kondrashin became the first Soviet conductor to perform in the United States. Since then, he had to repeatedly perform on concert stages around the world.

New and most milestone Kondrashin's artistic activity began in 1960, when he headed the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. In a short time, he managed to bring this team to the forefront of artistic frontiers. This applies to both performance qualities and repertoire range. Often speaking with classical programs, Kondrashin focused his attention on contemporary music. He "discovered" D. Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony, written back in the thirties. After that, the composer entrusted him with the first performances of the Thirteenth Symphony and The Execution of Stepan Razin. In the 1960s, Kondrashin presented the audience with the works of G. Sviridov, M. Weinberg, R. Shchedrin, B. Tchaikovsky and other Soviet authors.

“We must pay tribute to the courage and perseverance, integrity, musical instinct and taste of Kondrashin,” writes critic M. Sokolsky. “He acted as an advanced, broad-minded and deeply feeling soviet artist like a passionate propagandist Soviet creativity. And in this creative, bold artistic experiment of his, he received the support of the orchestra bearing the name of the Moscow Philharmonic... Here, in the Philharmonic Orchestra, in recent years, Kondrashin's great talent has been especially brightly and widely revealed. I would like to call this talent offensive. Impulsiveness, impetuous emotionality, addiction to sharpened dramatic explosions and climaxes, to intense expressiveness, which were inherent in the young Kondrashin, have remained the most characteristic features of Kondrashin's art today. Only today the time has come for him to a great, genuine maturity.

Literature: R. Glaser. Kirill Kondrashin. "SM", 1963, No. 5. Razhnikov V., "K. Kondrashin talks about music and life", M., 1989.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969

Born on February 21 (March 6), 1914 in a family of orchestral musicians, at the age of six he began to study piano, then he also studied music theory with N. S. Zhilyaev, who had a huge influence on his creative development.

In 1931, Kondrashin entered the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in the class of opera and symphony conducting under B. E. Khaikin. Three years later, he got a job as an assistant conductor. Music studio Moscow Art Theater under the leadership of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, where he first stood at the console on October 25, 1934.

After graduating from the conservatory in 1936, Kondrashin became the conductor of the Maly Theater in Leningrad, where performances of operas by A. F. Pashchenko "Pompadours", G. Puccini's "Girl from the West", M. M. Cheryomukhin's "Kalinka" and others took place under his direction. At the first All-Union Conducting Competition in 1938, Kondrashin received an honorary diploma, and music criticism marked him high skill.

In 1943, Kondrashin received an invitation to the Bolshoi Theater, who had just returned from evacuation from Kuibyshev. The young conductor meets S. A. Samosud, A. M. Pazovsky, N. S. Golovanov, who helped him broaden his musical horizons and improve his mastery of managing an opera orchestra. Several new operas were staged under Kondrashin's baton, at which time he also often performs with the country's leading orchestras, performing works by N. Ya. Myaskovsky, S. S. Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, P. I. Liszt and R. Wagner. In 1948 and 1949 he received the Stalin Prize of the first and second degrees, respectively.

After leaving the Bolshoi Theater in 1956, Kondrashin began his career as a touring conductor, earning a reputation as a brilliant accompanist: D. F. Oistrakh, S. T. Richter, M. L. Rostropovich, E. G. Gilels, L. B. Kogan and others outstanding musicians. Van Cliburn played at the First Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 with the orchestra conducted by Kondrashin in the third round and at the gala concert, and in the same year Kondrashin made his first tour of the United States and Great Britain.

In 1960-1975 Kondrashin headed Symphony Orchestra Moscow Philharmonic. This period is considered the most fruitful in the career of a conductor. Under his direction, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra became one of the leading musical groups countries.

In December 1978, after another concert in the Netherlands, Kondrashin decided not to return to the USSR. Soon he received a position as principal guest conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and in 1981 was to lead the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, but died suddenly of a heart attack.

Creation

Kondrashin is one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. In his own words, he strove, like the conductors of past years, to develop his own unique and inimitable sound of the orchestra. During his work with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, he performed many works by classical and contemporary authors, including a cycle of all symphonies by G. Mahler, as well as works by B. Bartok, P. Hindemith, A. I. Khachaturian, M. S. Weinberg, G. V. Sviridov, B. A. Tchaikovsky (B. A. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Second Symphony to K. P. Kondrashin) and many other composers. Kondrashin is the first conductor to perform a cycle of all fifteen symphonies by D. D. Shostakovich, while the Fourth (not performed since its writing - 1936) and Thirteenth Symphonies were performed in 1962 for the first time.

Among the recordings made are works by I. Brahms (all symphonies; concerto for violin and orchestra with D. F. Oistrakh), M. Weinberg (symphonies No. 4-6), A. Dvorak (violin concerto with Oistrakh), G Mahler (symphonies No. 1, 3-7, 9), S. S. Prokofiev (“Cantata for the XXth Anniversary of October”, “Ala and Loli”), M. Ravel (“Spanish Rhapsody”, “Waltz”), S. V. Rachmaninov (The Bells, Symphonic Dances, Piano Concerto No. 3 with Van Cliburn), N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (The Snow Maiden, Piano Concerto with S. T. Richter) ), A. N. Scriabin (part 1 of the “Preliminary Act” in the version by A. P. Nemtin - first recording), P. I. Tchaikovsky (symphonies No. 1, 4, 5, 6, concerto No. 1 for piano with Van Cliburn ), D. D. Shostakovich (all symphonies, “October”, “The Execution of Stepan Razin”, “The Sun Shines Over Our Homeland”, Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra with Oistrakh), etc.

The sound of the orchestra conducted by Kondrashin was distinguished by the balance of the sound texture, clear control over the dynamics, warmth and unity of timbre. Some of his thoughts and methods of working with the orchestra Kondrashin reflected in the book "On Conducting Art", which was published in 1972.

Awards and prizes

• Stalin Prize of the first degree (1948) - for conducting opera performance"Enemy Force" by A. N. Serov on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater
• Stalin Prize of the second degree (1949) - for conducting the opera performance "The Bartered Bride" by B. Smetana on the stage of the branch of the Bolshoi Theater
• State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. I. Glinka (1969) - for concert programs(1966-1967) and (1967-1968)
• National artist USSR (1972)
• Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1951)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals

Bibliography

• Razhnikov V. Kondrashin talks about music and life. - M.: Music, 1989