Soviet Children to the Children of Vietnam

Among the numerous and varied events dedicated to the International Year of the Child, the concert “Soviet Children to the Children of Vietnam”, held last Sunday in the Kremlin Concert Hall, has taken a worthy place. The proceeds will go to the Peace Fund. All its participants, performers and listeners alike, are aware of their duty and responsibility for peace, and therefore for the happiness of the children of the whole planet. E. V. Moshkina, executive secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee for the Defence of Peace and a participant in the just-concluded “World Conference for a Peaceful and Happy Future of All Children” in Moscow, spoke warmly about this in her introductory remarks. The significance and unusual character of the concert were felt from beginning to end; it is hard to single anything out. \nAnd yet it is necessary to tell what makes it interesting and significant. \nContrary to custom, let us begin with the listeners. Smartly dressed boys and girls, their mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers filled the Kremlin concert hall and listened to the whole concert with sincere interest. Both adults and children entered deeply into the essence and character of each song performed: they reacted cheerfully to the comic scenes and humorous verses, and listened attentively and with feeling to the manly and stern song by L. Sivukhin and V. Shamshurin, “Tell Us, Young Sailor”, which had to be repeated. They rewarded the performers with warm, unanimous applause for each song. Special gratitude was shown to the authors of the songs who were in the hall, the Gorky composers G. Komrakov and A. Burdov. Probably many listeners of this concert were in the Kremlin hall for the first time, and one wants to believe that they will now become regular and indispensable visitors to the evenings and matinees of the philharmonic and the conservatory that interest them. \nNow about the programme. \nIts merits are indisputable; it vividly and brightly presented folk songs of varied content and character, songs by Soviet composers and classical music. Almost half of the works performed were songs by the Gorky composers G. Komrakov, B. Getselev, A. Burdov, I. Rosenstein and L. Sivukhin. Alongside the widely known ones, several new songs were performed. The whole programme of two halves was received with growing interest thanks to its compositional harmony, contrasts, sense of proportion and variety of songs. This applies especially to the second half: it began with “March of the Merry Fellows” by I. Dunayevsky and V. Lebedev-Kumach and ended with “Street of Peace” by A. Pakhmutova and N. Dobronravov. How important all this is in a concert of precisely this orientation!

Now about the performers, who deserve special attention here. Three children’s collectives, the choirs of the House of Artistic Education (leader V. Popov), the V. P. Chkalov Palace of Pioneers (leader R. Khairulin) and the Boys’ Choir Chapel (leader Honoured Art Worker of the RSFSR L. Sivukhin), each performed its own programme in the first half and joined together in the second. There were over 150 of them, and they sang together with the symphony orchestra of the Gorky Philharmonic. L. Sivukhin conducted. It is quite natural that the sound of the large performing collective in the second half of the concert was the most brilliant. Clarity and flexibility in embodying the figurative essence of the works, ensemble cohesion, purity of intonation, and emotional dynamism and subtlety are the results of serious, painstaking work with the children in the summer, at the singing pioneer camp, and in the new school year that had begun. \nFor their services to the musical life of the city and their contribution to the Soviet Peace Fund, each collective taking part in the concert was awarded a certificate of honour from the Regional Committee for the Defence of Peace.

V. Blinova, Honoured Worker of Culture of the RSFSR.

In the photo: the combined choir and the symphony orchestra perform.

Photo by V. Borodin.