June 21 at the Concert Hall. P.I. Tchaikovsky ensemble Zventa Sventana will perform Russian folk songs in transcriptions by modern composers – and accompanied by the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fyodor Beznosikov. Zventa Sventana is a musical project by Tina Kuznetsova and Yuri Usachev, which studies folklore and adapts it for a modern audience. How the musicians came up with the idea of combining folk song and academic music on the main stage of the Moscow Philharmonic, they told in an interview with Weekend.
How did you decide to bring folk song to the academic stage?
Tina Kuznetsova: We treat folk song as something very valuable and alive at the same time. We are interested not in preserving it under glass, but in revealing it anew – finding new dimensions of sound in it. In this sense, a symphony orchestra becomes not a decoration, but an instrument that allows you to hear the depth, drama and inner strength of this music.
Of course, we are far from the first to resort to the idea of mutual enrichment of folk music and a symphony ensemble. Zventa Sventana had legendary predecessors – first of all, “Russian Seasons” by Sergei Diaghilev.
Yuri Usachev: The ballets of Igor Stravinsky served as a powerful inspiration for us, and in the songs of Zventa Sventana you can even hear echoes of “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring”.
T.K.: We are also close to the principle that guided the creators of “Russian Seasons”: to combine tradition and the most modern artistic means of their time. We have adopted this innovative approach and introduced a number of new creative solutions.
What exactly will the viewer hear and see at the concert?
Yu.U.: For Zventa Sventana, working with space is very important, and at the concert on June 21 we will actively work with sound design.
Special effectors will record fragments of orchestral parts or Tina’s voice, and then play them back through separate speaker systems in the hall. This will create a unique spatial sensation: the sound will literally move around the listener.
Now we are sitting on the veranda and hear a train passing somewhere, someone playing a ball – we do not fix our attention on these sounds, but it is from them that the feeling of life is formed. We are interested in creating a similar feeling at a concert – when music exists not only on stage, but becomes an environment within which the audience finds itself.
Why did you decide to invite contemporary composers instead of doing all the arrangements yourself?
T.K.: It was extremely important for us to attract the attention of modern composers to folk music, because they, like no one else, are capable of revealing this incredibly rich layer of culture. And it turned out that for many composers this meeting was long overdue.
For example, Nikolai Popov, while still a student, went on folklore expeditions with the legendary researcher Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Shchurov. In one of the conversations, he admitted that he had long wanted to turn to folk songs as material for his own music. We offered him “I’m walking on the stone myself” – a traditional Karagod song of the Bryansk region – and received a very subtle and unexpected reading.
We are already connected with Vladimir Gorlinsky by joint experience. We worked together in Arkhangelsk on a large-scale project “River Codes. Northern Dvina”, where folk songs became part of a spatial sound composition. Then we were amazed at how Vladimir could work with sound as a medium – and we wanted to continue this conversation within the Zventa Sventana program.
Yu.U.: We offered Vladimir the song “Vir-vir”. Despite the fact that it comes from the Smolensk region, its melody and harmony evoke thoughts of the East. Vladimir once again pleasantly surprised us with his vision of the arrangement – it will be very interesting.
Whose arrangements are there the most in the program?
T.K.: The largest number of arrangements was provided by Ivan Naborshchikov, a wonderful violinist, composer and soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic. As part of the “Notes and Quotas” grant, he created for us an entire folk suite of three songs.
We also worked for the first time with Ekaterina Khmelevskaya, whom we learned about thanks to the film “Battleship Potemkin.” As you may know, the film was silent for a hundred years, and now a century later it solemnly acquired a soundtrack, which was precisely composed by Catherine. Her writing amazed us with how it brought the film to life and modernization. Ekaterina is a real master of suspense, so we gave her a song that just needed suspense – “The Wife Didn’t Love Her Husband.” This is an archaic, pre-Christian song that was performed during the agrarian ritual of driving an arrow. She completes the first chapter.
The track list of the concert includes 15 compositions. How many of them will sound in a completely new arrangement?
Yu.U.: Some of the songs have been with us for many years, and the arrangement for orchestra lays on top of an already existing musical idea. But part of the program consists of completely new works. For example, “The Gossips Drink” by Alexei Retinsky is a real journey through the world of classical music.
What do you think is the relevance of your program today?
T.K.: The Zventa Sventana project shows with its successful existence that folk songs are always relevant. And modern arrangements, technologies, collaborations with young Russian composers give her new life and make her beloved again.
Yu.U.: We are developing a very important direction for Russian musical culture. On the one hand, we are increasing the audience of authentic folk songs and introducing the general public to our own cultural heritage.
On the other hand, we create new interpretations without destroying the original meanings. Folklore has never been static – it has always changed, acquired new intonations, passed from person to person, from generation to generation. It is important for us to prove by personal example that there is no need to be afraid of folk song and it is time to legitimize its union with academic music.
Yuri, will you be on stage?
Yu.U.: Yes, I will be in the center of the strike force – among the loudest participants in the process. I will also have a drumstick and a bass tom – I will perform one part. Thank God, I once studied drums at a music school. So I can definitely cope with one stick. (Laughs.)
What else will surprise the viewer at the concert?
Yu.U.: This time we have prepared subtitles. Since we are working with an old village song, some words may be perceived unusually. We wanted the audience to be able to follow not only the sound, but also the meaning – so the texts will appear right in the space of the hall.
T.K.: A special booklet will also be presented at the concert: guests will be able to learn about the origin of each song, where it was recorded, and the context in which it was originally performed. We have also included full texts. In folk tradition, a song is often not performed in its entirety – this is absolutely natural for oral culture. But sometimes one verse found in the archive can completely change the meaning of the work.
Yu.U.: In folklore, a song can have many variations. Today my grandmother sang this way, and tomorrow her friend sang it a little differently. And then they sang together and remembered that there were two more verses.
T.K.: While working on the concert, we united around us many talents from completely different creative fields. For example, the stage image for me is created by students of the British Higher School of Design. Last year we already collaborated within the framework of the “Costume Code” project, where elements of Russian traditional clothing were rethought. Then the result turned out to be so interesting that I wanted to continue the dialogue.
Do you have a ritual on the day of a concert?
T.K.: I prefer to find a quiet dressing room and tune in, be alone with myself, remember why we are here.
Yu.U.: Will you be worried? I always worry, but when I go on stage, I stop.
It’s interesting that before Zventa Sventana I had been involved in electronic music all my life and never worried, everything went easily and according to plan. But with the advent of folk music, I began to experience a certain sense of magic. Now I never know what might happen and that’s very valuable.
Will you repeat this program?
Yu.U.: We would like to travel around the country with her. I am sure this will happen in the foreseeable future.
T.K.: When we tour Russia with our concerts, we want to highlight local traditions and show people their unique and inimitable wealth. When I come to a particular region, sometimes it turns out that I know a little more about the local culture than the locals. I know what local costume they had and folk songs. It seems to me a wonderful idea that one day a person will come to a large concert hall and suddenly hear a song from his native place from the stage.
