Gidon Kremer: Now, something completely unpredictable is happening all over the world, it could be said that it is not just a pandemic, but a big question mark for the meaning and significance of human life. I choose to stick to the health product we all know – to be treated with music.
We mark 2020 as the year of Beethoven’s creative power: it was he who was and will remain in time as a composer, who was undoubtedly closest to man and his tragic fate. Bach’s power and creative laboratory was a religion, and Mozart is simply associated with what we call “heaven,” but Beethoven found the sounds that accompany us to earth and at the same time “ascend” (Boris Pasternak).
Why will the chamber music evening of September 12 be very special with you at the conductor’s desk?
I will never conduct and will not conduct, because in my life I have collaborated with almost 500 conductors. Outstanding, good and, unfortunately, “suspicious” (there were many instrumentalists among them (laughs). Conducting is an art, and I respect the artists I shared my stage presence with – Bernstein, Arnoncour, Juline, and many others I was lucky enough to play and grow with.
Will participate in the chamber music concert Cremated soloists and also my trio partners: cellist Giedre Dirvanauskaite, who plays with Kremerata Baltica since its inception, and my longtime partner Georgy Osokin, whose giftedness and desire to serve music (and not use music for his career) inspires both me and my listeners. We recently recorded a disc with Georgia and Giedri, which will be released in the fall by a German company Accentus brand. However, being on stage and playing in person is, of course, even more rewarding, especially now that concerts and tours are almost non-existent. We are glad to meet our loyal listeners again in Dzintari – a hall that lives in my memory from childhood.
Do you constantly collaborate with the festival’s special guests Hugo Tiiati and Lucian Manchini?
No. It Cremated the rich biography will be the first meeting with these soloists. We are very much looking forward to them. Especially because their participation is related to Arthur Muscat’s new opus Summer Dreams for violin, mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra, written specifically for these performers. We have already had Muscat compositions dedicated to us, and they have remained not only in our good memory, but also in our repertoire.
Collaboration with Baltic composers A. Pert, P. Vaska, G. Pelēce, R. Šerkšnīte, J. Jančevski, A. Dzenīte, A. Žlabi and many others means that Kremerata Baltica deserves to be called the “ambassador” of the Baltic States to the world. This is as important to me as Rigans as it is to all our musicians.
The title of Andrjus Žlabja’s new work Kaleidoscope of the lost time is both symbolic and topical.
Yes, the name can be understood symbolically, and it really is relevant. We want to hope that this will not only be related to the past, but will also be able to support the search for the content of our short life and the understanding of each person’s tasks in it. The pandemic, like the crises and all the horrors that are currently happening in Belarus and elsewhere, will pass, but in their lifetime they still want to find harmony and leave something valuable behind. Music (old or new, classical or contemporary) can help you feel it. I hope that this motif will be heard and remembered this weekend
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