A New Programme

Soon the Gorky boys’ choir chapel will leave for Novosibirsk, where it will perform a large new programme. Last Saturday the Chapel boys submitted this programme to the judgement of the people of Gorky. A big concert in two parts, with the participation of the organist G. Kozlova, took place in the Conservatory concert hall. The Chapel’s artistic director L. Sivukhin conducted. A significant part of the programme was new not only to the boys’ performance but to us in general. First of all this was the “Little Cantata” for boys’ choir and organ by the contemporary English composer Benjamin Britten, a distinctive work, very complex in its modal, rhythmic and ensemble structure. The young singers, as always, coped well with all the musical tasks and, more than that, managed to convey the unusual emotional content of the work despite the original Latin text. The same applies to another work by Britten, a folk Christmas carol, festive and ringing.

Gounod’s “Hymn to Nature” sounded majestic, full-blooded and noble; at times it was even hard to believe that only boys were singing (probably the organ adjusted the overall sonority in this way).

The performance of the first movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata (arranged for choir by L. Sivukhin) made a good impression, preserving the purity and chastity of the lyricism of this immortal music. The piano part, which kept its importance in the ensemble, was played well by B. Krein. In a completely different key — cheerful and boisterous in the Russian way — were performed Nikolsky’s “Prybautki”, a wonderful example of folk art. One cannot help but admire the boys’ ability to change their emotional mood to suit the character of the music being performed. The youngest were in their element when they performed the French folk song “The Cuckoo” (soloist Vova Satunin) or the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” from Tchaikovsky’s piano “Children’s Album” (arranged for choir by L. Sivukhin).

Least successful for now, perhaps, were the pieces by Rachmaninoff. There were four of them in the programme, and they sounded somewhat monotonous, although they should be quite different: “Glory to the People” to words by Nekrasov, “The Pine” to words by Lermontov and “The Pine” to words by Tsyganov. And the famous “Italian Polka” (arranged by Loktev) clearly lacked lightness and grace. No doubt these flaws will be eliminated in the course of work, especially as the 100th anniversary of S. V. Rachmaninoff is very near, and his works will have to be performed more than once.

On the whole, however, the concert was very well structured, varied and interesting.

V. Blinova, 15 March 1973, newspaper “Gorkovsky Rabochy”