Sergey Mazaev hit the classics

— You are spending the outgoing year as a very busy person. At the same time, it always seemed to me that you are not one of those people who like to take on some kind of burden and carry it heroically. Nevertheless, there are already three groups in which you participate: “Moral Code”, Sergei Mazaev’s Queentet and Sergei Mazaev’s Variety Orchestra…

– And I also have a project with a very famous musician – Igor Fedorov. This is my clarinet teacher, and we have a duet program, it’s called “Classics without a code.” I don’t like to work, but I like to play. Is singing songs really work? To work is to do something with a shovel or to manage production.

— But a musician needs to constantly rehearse to be in good shape…

— Clarinet and classical music classes are very disciplined. Firstly, it is impossible to be drunk or stoned. Plus the skill grows. I really regret that many of our rockers can hardly be called musicians. What is a musician? He put the musician in the orchestra, set the notes and he plays. Rockers can’t do that.

– They take it for others. Melodies, lyrics, charisma…

– This is true. Now I will have recordings with “Disco “Accident”, but they don’t know the notes, the keys, or anything at all. I don’t understand how people manage to write such beautiful songs. They assemble them like cubes from different files, not in a completely musical way, but they succeed.

– Sometimes it feels like all the songs that have become hits lately are assembled from the same cubes…

— It’s like in clothes: there is mass market, and there are niche items. The “Moral Code” does not have such mass popularity as, for example, the group “Leningrad”. It’s just that Shnur is like a folk poet himself. His poems are good on the topic of the day. And from his work one can understand in what time all this was written. We also have a song by which we can determine the era. “Call home for two kopecks…” When did they do this? When on the streets the telephone machines (telephones) cost two kopecks.

— If we remember those times… “Moral Code” appeared as a production project?

– In general, yes. The famous poet and musician Pavel Zhigun gathered the guys together with the Canadian vocalist of Ukrainian origin Roman Ivasko, and a program was prepared for the Western market. But they didn’t succeed with the soloist. Still, constantly flying back and forth is not easy. When we met Zhigun, I had just returned from America, where, after recording, I parted with the Autograph group. At first I rehearsed as a saxophonist, and then, when problems began with the soloist, I offered to sing something in Russian. And Paul brought two texts. So we first got “I Love You” and then “Goodbye, Mom.”

— A serious stir immediately arose around the “Moral Code.” Branded music, cool videos. It seemed to many that you were about to start assembling stadiums. But in the end they stayed in relatively small halls. Why do you think?

— Large halls mean problems with sound. When we started, people simply did not know how to cope with such sites. At some point, Yuri Aizenshpis wanted to work with us, but somehow it didn’t work out. They simply did not agree on the terms with Pavel Zhigun. I think if Aizenshpis had been involved with us, we would have reached the world level.

— But despite all the problems, the group continued to perform…

— Yes, almost all the money I earned is thanks to the “Moral Code.” I always understood that Codex was an amazing ensemble, so little by little we started tinkering with our own affairs.

— Now you have an updated composition…

— Sasha Solich and Kilday retired. Kilday’s place was taken by our former technician Sergei Sukhov. We had a glimmer of hope that Kildeev would come to his senses and maybe come back to us. But so far he has not shown such a desire.

— The group has a pretty strong program of old hits. But, probably, fans wouldn’t mind hearing something new. Are there any such plans?

— We have new music, we are working on it. Pavel Zhigun wrote several songs, now we are finishing the album. I think we’ll finish it in the spring, this will be our seventh record.

— I can imagine that finding time for new songs is not so easy. With all your projects…

– The main work is still the “Moral Code”. Queentet is simply a lot of fun, although it does come with a cost. Fortunately, Andrei Iosifovich Kobzon sheltered us in his foundation. We rehearse there, and for me this is a real vaccination against stardom. With all my rock and roll pathos, as a musician I am below the level of those who play with me in Queentet. But next to them, with their help, under their leadership, I got into, in general, not bad shape. Classical musicians recognized me as their colleague, which is very nice. I haven’t played the clarinet for twenty years.

— I heard that it is more difficult to make money here from classical music, unlike popular music. In Europe there are old traditions of attending such concerts, but here everything is completely different…

— They have built a gigantic infrastructure. It will never go away. They have an amazing school. Although ours is very good, especially considering that over the past century we have experienced an incredible tragedy. There has been about a hundred million population decline in the twentieth century. But classical music nevertheless slipped through the red-bellied bans and other communist obscurantism.

— In 2012, you formed your own pop orchestra, and since then the group has regularly performed a program of classic songs. What is the difference for you personally between a concert with a rock band and an orchestra?

— Singing with a rock band is a huge thrill. Can you imagine – five rock bands on stage! Such a musical palette, the sound when you sing in a choir is generally the highest musical pleasure. And in general, playing in an orchestra is an incredible pleasure. I created Queentet to make my childhood dreams come true, to play real Weber, Mozart with real musicians. Happened.

— How do your musical tastes change over time?

– They are improving. I didn’t let go of anything from the past, but I started to enjoy more complex music. Now ninety percent of everything I listen to is classical music.

— Have you changed as a person during this time?

– I have improved too. In 2004 I stopped drinking alcohol. With great difficulty, but I gave up. I recommend everyone to try to live without it, because in my case literally everything has changed. Firstly, I’m still living, but I could die like a dirty drunken dog. Secondly, it is unclear where the money came from. It seems like the same life, the same work. But when I drank, I had no money, I stopped drinking, and they appeared. Third, when I started living a sober life, I had free time and the opportunity to do the things I did as a teenager. Clarinet and swimming. It seems to me that when you start doing those things where you have a long memory, you can restore your former skills faster and better. So I try.