Autumn elegy
A soiree from the “Seasons of the Year” series was held at the Kyiv Museum of Russian Art, uniting music, poetry, and painting.
The Bolshoi Theater Quartet, appearing for the first time on an improvised stage in the White Hall, presented rarely performed classical works (quartets by Serhii Rakhmaninov and Oleksandr Borodin, “Elegy” and “Polka” by Dmitri Shostakovych, as well as “Autumn Suite” by the modern Ukrainian composer Yevhen Stankovych, who was present in the audience and was satisfied with the Russians’ interpretation.
Poetry by Pushkin, Tiutchev, and Nabokov sounded during the performance by Igor Stanislavsky, and the hosts of the evening — the staff of the Museum of Russian Art — held a vernissage of works from their collection. They chose artists’ works based on autumn themes: Bialynytsky-Byrulia, I. Brodsky, S. Gerasimov, N. Romadin, and the young Kyiv painter A. Kolos.
The evening was a creative dialogue of Russian and Ukrainian cultures. According to the museum’s director, Yurii Vakulenko, the music and poetry programs, supplemented by colorful canvases, are restoring the ancient traditions of the Tereshchenko house, where popular and fashionable salons were held within these walls in the previous century. “A museum should not just be a repository but a living fabric that draws people of different professions and interests.” Vakulenko dreams that the museum soirees will become popular as well as resonant. He wants the guests to prepare for these soirees in a special way by donning evening dress and anticipating that they will hear the best artists here, enjoy the museum’s paintings, and mingle with interesting people.
“We have already held the fourth museum soiree from the ‘Seasons of the Year’ series,” counselor-envoy of the Embassy of the Federation of Russia in Ukraine Vsevolod Loskutov told The Day. “Each of them had its own special feature and uniqueness. We try to invite interesting musicians. This time the Moscow-based Bolshoi Theater Quartet performed here for the first time: Dmitrii Khakhamov (first violin), Irina Pietukhova (second violin), Aleksandr Balashov (viola) and Mikhail Shumsky (cello). This young ensemble, founded last year, is continuing the creative traditions of one of the best chamber ensembles of the 20 th century, which became known as the Bolshoi Theater Quartet, a musical leader since the 1930s.
The original quartet’s specialty was performing the most diverse types of music, acquainting audiences with rarely performed classical and modern works. This tradition is being continued by the Bolshoi Theater Quartet. During the short period of its existence the quartet has won international popularity. The musicians tour frequently in Russia and abroad. The musicians prepared an interesting program for the recent soiree at the Museum of Russian Art. They performed Rachmaninov’s First Quartet, which the composer wrote at the age of 16, while he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory. Shostakovych’s Composition 36a is also rarely performed. This work may be called a sketch for the maestro’s future musical pictures: the composer would soon include “Polka” into his ballet The Golden Age, and “Elegy,” in the opera Katerina Izmailova. It was a pleasure to hear the quartet’s first performance of “Autumn Suite” by Stankovych, one of the finest contemporary Ukrainian composers. Music, poetry, and painting were united in one program, which made for an interesting creative event.
The idea to hold such evenings in Kyiv’s Museum of Russian Art is the brainchild of Lesia Oliinyk (Ukraine’s National Musical Committee of UNESCO’s International Music Council), Liudmila Chyzhova (Russian Foreign Center) and Yurii Vakulenko (Russian Art Museum), with support from the Russian Embassy. These evenings are becoming increasingly popular, and other museums of Kyiv are catching on to our idea. The “Seasons of the Year” series will end with a Christmas program, but gatherings at the museum will continue.
