Composer Sergey Akhunov charmed the audience with his touches

Those who were lucky enough to visit the Maestro Rozhdestvensky’s concerts, to see his manner of conducting live, to hear his comments on the rarities performed, will never forget the impression he makes. There was always an impeccable style, there was a slight outrage – for example, to go to the remote, waving a rose, and certainly hovered irony and elegant banter in the spirit of Rostropovich. However, all this, of course, were only details that gave additional charm to the highest musical gift and professionalism of Gennady Rozhdsvensky.

The concert at the KPC, which announces two world premieres - Sergey Akhunov and Leonid Zvolinsky - opened very unexpectedly with the "Holiday Kui" of the Kazakh classic Yerkegali Rakhmadiev. And it was a greeting from Christmas, who personally with the help of a video commented on this number of the program. As it turned out, the maestro at one time was forced to perform a symphonic miniature of Rakhmadiev at a concert in Sofia under pressure from the leadership of the State Concert. If he did not perform this "kui" - would not go with the orchestra to Bulgaria: that is, if you want to play Beethoven's "Grand Mass", play Rakhmadiev's "Festival Kui" first. The story is quite in the spirit of Christmas, noting that “kuy”, fortunately, was not long. Kyu was really not long and quite festive - the State Orchestra under the direction of Philip Chizhevsky presented it to the public at its best.

But now it’s time for the world premiere of The Art of Light Touch. The work is a dance suite of eight numbers - four of them were played at the concert. The name, borrowed from Victor Pelevin (the composer even received official permission from the writer for its use), has nothing to do with the plots of Pelevin. And some other stories, too. There's no software in the suite. There is music and only music: the inexhaustible possibilities of genres, drama, methods of development, instrumentation, rhythm. And beautiful tunes, which in our time is incredible.

With difficulty refraining from the professional temptation to immerse myself in a detailed analysis of the score, I will limit myself to the conclusion: Akhunov – and not for the first time – manages to impress the listener with new discoveries, remaining on the territory of beauty and tradition. It is as if the chess player, having started the game, from the first moves presented to astonished observers a previously unknown game combination, without violating the rules of the game. It would seem that by the second quarter of the XXI century everything has already been written, and the strategy of the modern composer is only the ability to use what was done by predecessors from the medieval motet and baroque gold sequences to dodecaphony and golim pop. With the light hand of Vladimir Martynov, we know that the “end of the time of composers” has come. At the same time, he does not give up his composing activity, together with a group of comrades immersed in the “new simplicity” and minimalism. Someone continues to stubbornly push into the moth-beaten, but still strong wall of the senseless and ruthless “vanguard”. Someone enters the territory of pop, rock and jazz, and this is perhaps the best way not to lose contact with the audience. But Sergey Akhunov somehow miraculously manages not to do neither the first, nor the second, nor the third. He's not a minimalist. His beautiful, tonal, intonationally understandable, human themes for some reason are not secondary, trivial or short. The development is a real symphonic one, without minimalist repeated repetitions. He practically does not use the style of “neighbors” such as rock or jazz. It has the musical environment that academic music provides. He has enough genres, intonations, semantics of classical musical language. And he is not ashamed of “beautiful music”, does not apologize for it, does not disfigure or distort it with dissonances, as Alfred Schnittke did, for example, having invented his polystylistics specifically for these purposes.

The audience heard and understood it the first time. After the final sounds of the beautiful, inspired, enchanting "Casanias" in the impeccable performance of the State Orchestra under the direction of Philip Chizhevsky, complete silence reigned for a few moments. The audience literally took their breath away. And then there was the explosion of applause, the cries of "bravo," the applause. The crowded Tchaikovsky Hall – 1,500 people – was delighted with the new music, proving that it was needed today.

But not everything is needed. At the same concert was presented and the aforementioned branch of musical, or rather anti-musical culture. Another world premiere took place - Zvolinsky's speculative composition "Flickering Structures". Living in Japan, the author uses grants from certain funds, for which, apparently, such soundmaking is an example of “modern music”. Although such noise opuses, based on the sawing of strings and howling of wind, have long been outdated and "vanguard" are listed on some mysterious inertia. However, the fact that there were two such different premieres in the same program is very good. There is an opportunity to compare the present and profane, to distinguish art from musical information, to separate the music heard by the composer from the crafty set of notes.

Maestro Christmas was right: every Beethoven has its own cui. And this, apparently, lies the secret of world harmony.