Teodor Currentzis: My favourite living composers
mainThe colourful Russian-based Greek conductor has been telling Ricordi about the new music he likes:
Which Russian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries are the most interesting for you and why?
A lot: Leonid Desiatnikov, Sergey Newski, Alexey Syumak, Dmitri Kourliandsky, Darin Sysoev, Boris Filanovsky… and many others. But I believe that it’s very important to return to the ritual art and musi for me is a ritual art, not an intellectual one. Composers need to have either very strong identity or very strong talent to take path. Because we live in the times when people have less and less opportunity to have a ritual life. So the rituality and spirituality are the things I am looking for in contemporary music.
this kind of music could hardly be connected with any kind of dictatorship or totalitarianism in my head and soul…. rather with unbridled democracy 😉 … as far as I could understand it is Russian Perm Opera House in this footage
The Newski concerto begins at 20:45. What does the piece ‘say’? Does it ‘say’ anything? Or ‘presents’ something? Which kind of atmosphere does it create? Ritual: certainly, but which kind? I could not help being reminded of Tracey Emin’s ‘Unmade Bed’.
at least it provoked your imagination , unfortunately cannot say the same about mine . I seem to be an hopeless retrograde , still stuck with Donizetti 😉
Try Judith Weir!