Teodor Currentzis outplayed Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev in his own style in Sochi

The ability to find harmony and energy for creation under any circumstances is the greatness of the human spirit

There is nowhere for an apple to fall in the Winter Theater. People are ready to stand just to see Teodor Currentzis on stage. At the XVII Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi, Teodor Currentzis and his musicAeterna orchestra brought their version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony. Even experts did not immediately guess the famous works performed by the conductor.

It is unlikely that on any other day in the foyer of the Sochi theater you can meet an audience of any kind. The ladies put on all the most fashionable: here a blonde in a jacket with a large inscription “High Flying Bird” walked into the hall, here a brown-haired woman in a black tutu floated by, here a lady of Balzac’s age in a Cleopatra classic dress and high heels glides, and here an old lady with a wand – in a formal white sweater and trousers. Men thought less about appearance that evening, although many chose a laconic black suit for going out.

The maestro himself almost always performs in black. But this time it turned out to be especially extravagant. Theodore appeared on stage – as always, suddenly, as if by magic – wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt, a black loose vest and black high-heeled boots. The hair seems to fall sloppily on the face with an expressive Greek nose. In fact, Theodore thought through his image to the smallest detail, he is very pedantic. Well, just a rock star, not a conductor of a classical orchestra.

However, Currentzis’s work can hardly be called classic. Despite the fact that he often plays completely academic and very famous things. The trick is that he plays them in such a way that you can hardly recognize the classics. And he doesn’t just conduct, but dances with his whole body, as if pumping energy and music on stage: Theodore’s movements, which immediately resonate in the music, can be admired like modern ballet. For the sake of such a show, approximately 50 spectators were ready to stand for three hours, because there were not enough seats in the Winter Palace for everyone. Some managed to share one chair between two people. And no one complained.

As soon as the maestro appeared on stage, everyone took out their phones and began filming, although before the start of the concert everyone was asked not to do this. The conductor has a point about this. Currentzis set a condition for journalists – to use only the photographs of the official photographer of the festival, which he selected, and no others. The press was strictly prohibited from filming. But the audience is also those rock and rollers and did not stop themselves from capturing the stately Greek. True, pretty quickly almost everyone forgot about the existence of gadgets and plunged headlong into music.

“Scheherazade” started softly. Teodor Currentzis seemed to embroider every detail of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite. In Sochi they are well aware of this programmatic piece by the 19th century composer, inspired by oriental fairy tales from “1000 and One Nights”. The Winter Olympic Games closed to this tune, and in the Olympic Park there is a show of dancing fountains to the music of “Scheherazade.” But hardly anyone knew such a suite before Currentzis. His orchestra played it with amazing subtlety, jewelry, and ornamentation. Oriental motifs flourished in splendor and color. “Pure art and total beauty,” summed up one music critic during intermission.

The fifth symphony after the break became an interesting continuation of this ornamental and musical canvas. Actually, Sergei Prokofiev has a “Fantasy on the Theme of Scheherazade”, created based on the composition of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. But Currentzis chose another, much more famous work, where, however, the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov is also obvious. Moreover, Prokofiev wrote the 5th symphony in 1944, immediately after returning from evacuation, and in it he moved away from youthful rebellion and modernist quests. This work is quite contrasting: it opens with a heroic-epic first movement, continues with a grotesque toccata and a gloomy lyrical-tragic Adagio, and ends with a monumental apotheosis. But even here, Currentzis wove his musical embroidery softly, without tension or pretentious drama. I highlighted details and changed the usual tempo for writing. And only in the finale Theodore turned up the heat – on the very last chords.

Prokofiev himself wrote about his 5th symphony: “I conceived it as a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit.” What is this greatness according to Currentzis? It seems, not in heroic epicness, not in love passions and adventures, but in those shades and halftones that can be felt between events. The little things make life big. The ability to find harmony, energy for creation and admiration under any, even the most dramatic, circumstances is the greatness of the human spirit. At least that’s how it turns out according to Currentzis.