The Guests Speak

As we have already reported, from 25 to 27 November the 14th plenum of the board of the Upper Volga organisation of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR, devoted to composers’ songwriting, was held in the city of Gorky. Today we tell about the concerts and the discussion of the plenum.

There were many guests at the plenum from various cities and autonomous republics of Russia. Many of them shared their impressions of what they heard in the three concerts and at the creative discussion that took place on Monday morning in the Small Hall of the Gorky Conservatory. We offer some of the statements and observations of the speakers for your attention.

Guests from Tatarstan, Karelia, Mordovia and Chuvashia unanimously found the 14th plenum of the Upper Volga composers interesting and successful. The songwriting of the Gorky composers pleased them with vivid examples in the fields of patriotic, lyrical, children’s and youth songs. They noted the high professional mastery and the link with the national traditions of Russian folk song art. The guests were genuinely delighted by the creative contact of the Gorky composers with performers: the laureate of the Lenin and Gorky Komsomol Prize, the Boys’ Choir Chapel, the people’s choir of the Palace of Culture of the Gorky Automobile Plant, soloists of the opera theatre, participants of the people’s opera studio of the Ya. M. Sverdlov House of Culture, and the symphony orchestra and soloists of the Gorky Philharmonic.

A. A. Ikonnikov (Moscow, musicologist, member of the board of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR), while acknowledging the positive sides, made a number of critical remarks. Of everything that was performed in the Kremlin concert hall at the All-Union competition of variety artists, the Gorky Philharmonic soloist V. Ermakov sang with the ensemble “Vdokhnovenie”, led by V. Shishkin, and USSR People’s Artist, soloist of the Gorky opera theatre V. Stepanov sang with the ensemble “Zerkalo”. A. A. Ikonnikov said: this is not art but its destruction, and we must fight it. The din irritates physically, prevents one from perceiving the songs, and the words cannot be heard. The singer is a slave of fashion; the selection commission should have warned him and the ensemble at rehearsal. When V. Ermakov sang at another concert without a VIA, he made the most pleasant impression. We must actively fight the harmful fashion coming from the West. His other remark concerned the insufficient self-criticism of some composers, which he considers the cause of the weak sides of songs: triviality of melody and clichés in the choice of expressive means. A. A. Ikonnikov sees the causes of this phenomenon in insufficient knowledge of one’s contemporaries. The speaker lamented the absence of songs that could be sung by a choir at a demonstration, of marching songs, military songs and songs about the modern countryside.

P. K. Aedonitsky (Moscow, composer, Honoured Art Worker of the RSFSR) expressed complete disagreement with A. A. Ikonnikov. The VIA is a new phenomenon in modern culture, and one cannot fail to reckon with it. These ensembles are very popular and accessible; traditional demands cannot be made of them; they need special conditions, large halls and a big audience, so amplification of the sound is necessary. Here, in the Kremlin hall, the VIA genre was not presented in its pure form; a soloist was simply performing accompanied by an ensemble. It did not make a terrible impression; everything was clear. The composer expressed great satisfaction with the songs of the Gorky composers, who recently recorded a record at the “Melodiya” company after the unanimous high assessment of a special commission. P. A. Aedonitsky touched on a most serious question, the correct evaluation of songs by their contemporaries. This is a very difficult matter, and there are many known cases when the same songs were judged differently by the same people depending on the specific conditions of the time.

V. I. Kazenin, secretary of the Union of Composers of the RSFSR, also disagreed with A. Ikonnikov and noted the very active intrusion of the Gorky composers into the life of their contemporaries. They know the people they write songs about. The Gorky composers and performers, he said, are very well known in the republic as a genuine, truly Russian branch of Russia’s culture. Wishing the Upper Volga composers new successes, V. I. Kazenin urged them to prepare worthily for the 4th Congress of Composers of the USSR, to be held next April.

Recorded by V. Grigorieva. “Leninskaya Smena”, 29.11.1978