Gverdtsiteli and Legrand’s Kyiv D ebut

Without doubt the joint concert by the French musical maitre Michel Legrand and Tamara Gverdtsiteli became one of the highlights of the competitive events of the Slovyansky Bazar [Slavic Bazaar] Festival.

The maestro first met Tamara ten years ago when the singer’s agent decided to send an audio-cassette with her records to Legrand’s office. It was precisely the next day when a phone call came. The master was charmed by Tamara’s voice, and soon their first duet, “The Magic Piano,” appeared.

Their concert in Kyiv, accompanied by the Ukrainian National Meritorious Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Viktor Plaksin, became the debut for their new program. It is hard to believe, but they rehearsed only three hours. This did not affect the quality, except that one could see Tamara’s slight agitation. “I was agitated; it was a premiere, after all, and there was the orchestra onstage, the maestro, and much improvisation. Sometimes I had to read his thoughts, because many numbers were played at sight.”

After the concert Michel Legrand said, “I am very glad to see the orchestra play with such enthusiasm. The musicians gave me exactly what I wanted from them. I guess that together we succeeded in giving the audience pleasure.” We can only add that the overcrowded hall of the Ukrayina Palace literally vibrated with ovation and would not let the participants of the concert go for more than twenty minutes.

Gverdtsitely and Legrand in unison gave delighted references to the organization of the Slovyansky Bazar and the contest level, which was especially pleasing to hear, for Mr. Legrand was chairman of the jury in the young performers contest, and the Georgian singer was a member of it. In addition, Legrand was absolutely fascinated by the beauty of Kyiv, where he had already been as long ago as 1957 when he took part in a music festival as a member of a jazz band. The street musicians on the Andriyevsky uzviz unexpectedly reminded the Gallic guest of another important landmark in his biography by playing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg theme. “It was so nice to come back suddenly to something already half forgotten,” he confessed at the press conference.

When questioned about his creative plans, the maestro only smiled, “There are so many plans that I cannot recall them all. I am working in film, French (in particular, now I am working on a musical together with Claude Lelouch) as well as American, making CDs, and have also decided to become seriously involved with musicals. The next to come is Phantom’s Love. Recently I have written an opera...”

Tamara Gverdtsitely also shared her prospects, “Soon my two new albums, both in Russian and Georgian, will come out. I have a strong desire to make a music video. My dreams about working together with Serhiy Paradzanov, my favorite film director, never came true. But I still hope that sooner or later a video shot by some really talented director will appear. Recently I talked to Nikita Mikhalkov. I don’t like to get ahead of myself, but maybe something will come of it.”