LEONID DESYATNIKOV born in 1955) is one of the most oroginal and widely performed among the Petersburgian composers. He is a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory and a member of the Composers Union. He has been a freelance composer since 1984.
Desyatnikov has penned four operas, several cantatas, and numerous vocal and instrumental compositions. The composer defines his style as “the emancipation of consonance, the transformation of the banal, minimalism with a human face”; his favorite genre is the “tragically naughty bagatelle”. His principal compositions include Rosenthal's Children (an opera in two acts; Vladimir Sorokin, libretto), Poor Liza (a chamber opera in one act; Leonid Desyatnikov, libretto, after the novella by Nikolai Karamzin; Gift (a cantata based on the verses of Gavrila Derzhavin), A Leaden Echo (a piece for voice and instruments based on the verses of Gerard Manley Hopkins) and The Rite of Winter 1949 (a symphony for choir, soloists and orchestra).
Since 1996 Desyatnikov has worked closely with Gidon Kremer, both as a composer (Wie der Alte Leiermann, the chamber orchestra version of Sketches for “Sunset”, Russian Seasons and as an arranger of compositions by Astor Piazzolla. He has also composed the music for such films as Sunset, Lost in Siberia, Moscow Nights, Hammer and Sickle, Giselle's Mania, His Wife's Diary, The Prisoner of the Mountains and Moscow (Grand Prize, 4th Biennial Film Music Festival, Bonn, 2002).
“The Leaden Tcho” (1991) to Gerard Manley Hopkins for countertenor and instruments is one of the most significant works among the composer's ones, for this is first vocal experiments in English. The manner of singing (so as the chosen voice) takes birth in the English music of the 16th century.
LEONID DESYATNIKOV born in 1955) is one of the most oroginal and widely performed among the Petersburgian composers. He is a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory and a member of the Composers Union. He has been a freelance composer since 1984.
Desyatnikov has penned four operas, several cantatas, and numerous vocal and instrumental compositions. The composer defines his style as “the emancipation of consonance, the transformation of the banal, minimalism with a human face”; his favorite genre is the “tragically naughty bagatelle”. His principal compositions include Rosenthal's Children (an opera in two acts; Vladimir Sorokin, libretto), Poor Liza (a chamber opera in one act; Leonid Desyatnikov, libretto, after the novella by Nikolai Karamzin; Gift (a cantata based on the verses of Gavrila Derzhavin), A Leaden Echo (a piece for voice and instruments based on the verses of Gerard Manley Hopkins) and The Rite of Winter 1949 (a symphony for choir, soloists and orchestra).
Since 1996 Desyatnikov has worked closely with Gidon Kremer, both as a composer (Wie der Alte Leiermann, the chamber orchestra version of Sketches for “Sunset”, Russian Seasons and as an arranger of compositions by Astor Piazzolla. He has also composed the music for such films as Sunset, Lost in Siberia, Moscow Nights, Hammer and Sickle, Giselle's Mania, His Wife's Diary, The Prisoner of the Mountains and Moscow (Grand Prize, 4th Biennial Film Music Festival, Bonn, 2002).
“The Leaden Tcho” (1991) to Gerard Manley Hopkins for countertenor and instruments is one of the most significant works among the composer's ones, for this is first vocal experiments in English. The manner of singing (so as the chosen voice) takes birth in the English music of the 16th century.
Леонид Десятников — выдающаяся фигура современного музыкального пространства, композитор, балансирующий на грани иронии и беззащитной открытости, эпатажа и затворничества, смеха и слез. Ничто так не современно, как его музыка, насквозь "пропитанная" многовековым классическим наследием. Неизвестный природе материал, чудесный сплав несоединимого. Но победитель в этой гонке за временем лишь один — красота. Вот, кто всегда укрыт за масками десятниковского балаганчика, да и как иначе уберечь эту хрупкую субстанцию в "вавилонской башне" современности.
Особняком в ряду "трагически-шаловливых вещиц" (— Л. Д.) композитора стоит "Свинцовое эхо" для голоса и инструментов. Здесь нет места ни для иронии, ни для гротеска. Можно даже высокопарно предположить, что это —творческая исповедь, искренность "высшей пробы" величайшего "аллюзиониста" эпохи, неприкрытая, обжигающая скорбь от невозможности удержать, зафиксировать прекрасное. И все это "преподносится" слушателю на языке барокко (языке абсолютной красоты): контртенор, фигуры ламенто, пассакальный бас, и даже — отзвук знаменитейшей арии Баха из "Страстей по Матфею" — "Erbarmedich", в тональности, тесситуре, вокальном тембре оригинала. Звук тянется и длится, но бас, отсчитывая утекающее время, неумолимо приводит нас к финалу. Расширившийся, но все же совсем небольшой ансамбль создает иллюзию стенаний бесчисленных голосов "по ту сторону" — "уж сколько их упало в эту бездну…". И это уже не ностальгия. Это – тоска, безнадежная, физически ощутимая боль…
Leonid Desjatnikov — vydajuschajasja figura sovremennogo muzykalnogo prostranstva, kompozitor, balansirujuschij na grani ironii i bezzaschitnoj otkrytosti, epatazha i zatvornichestva, smekha i slez. Nichto tak ne sovremenno, kak ego muzyka, naskvoz "propitannaja" mnogovekovym klassicheskim naslediem. Neizvestnyj prirode material, chudesnyj splav nesoedinimogo. No pobeditel v etoj gonke za vremenem lish odin — krasota. Vot, kto vsegda ukryt za maskami desjatnikovskogo balaganchika, da i kak inache uberech etu khrupkuju substantsiju v "vavilonskoj bashne" sovremennosti.
Osobnjakom v rjadu "tragicheski-shalovlivykh veschits" (— L. D.) kompozitora stoit "Svintsovoe ekho" dlja golosa i instrumentov. Zdes net mesta ni dlja ironii, ni dlja groteska. Mozhno dazhe vysokoparno predpolozhit, chto eto —tvorcheskaja ispoved, iskrennost "vysshej proby" velichajshego "alljuzionista" epokhi, neprikrytaja, obzhigajuschaja skorb ot nevozmozhnosti uderzhat, zafiksirovat prekrasnoe. I vse eto "prepodnositsja" slushatelju na jazyke barokko (jazyke absoljutnoj krasoty): kontrtenor, figury lamento, passakalnyj bas, i dazhe — otzvuk znamenitejshej arii Bakha iz "Strastej po Matfeju" — "Erbarmedich", v tonalnosti, tessiture, vokalnom tembre originala. Zvuk tjanetsja i dlitsja, no bas, otschityvaja utekajuschee vremja, neumolimo privodit nas k finalu. Rasshirivshijsja, no vse zhe sovsem nebolshoj ansambl sozdaet illjuziju stenanij beschislennykh golosov "po tu storonu" — "uzh skolko ikh upalo v etu bezdnu…". I eto uzhe ne nostalgija. Eto – toska, beznadezhnaja, fizicheski oschutimaja bol…
