Today.Az » Arts & Entertainment » Gidon Kremer talks about his project
01 December 2017 [16:25] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Laman Ismayilova

One of the most expected events of this musical season – concert of the outstanding musician of modernity – violinist Gidon Kremer will be held in Baku.

The event will take place in the Azerbaijan state philharmonic hall on December 14.

Maestro will present to his admirers an extraordinary program, which includes solo performance, video installations and a short film.

One of the works to be performed at this concert is “24 Preludes for violin and photographs” of Mieczyslav Weinberg accompanied by the works of famous Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus.

Gidon Kremer shared his comments regarding his working on this project.

"My latest project relates to a musician I consider one of the most important composers of the 20th century, a great colleague and close friend of Dmitri Shostakovich, MIECZYSLAV WEINBERG. As I began to round up my year of work on transcribing his 24 Preludes (originally written for cello) for the violin, I started to think about the possibility of intermingling the preludes and photographs. All I had to do was find a “partner” to deal with the photographic aspect of the project. In June 2017 my attention was caught by the work of an outstanding Lithuanian photographer, ANTANAS SUTKUS. We met in Vilnius and, to my delight, found that we “spoke” a common language. We began to work together", said Kremer.

"What do these two personalities – Weinberg and Sutkus – have in common? What is important to me about bringing them together? Great works of art are of course timeless. Interestingly, however, Weinberg’s music (in this case, the 24 Preludes for cello) and Sutkus’ powerful images were created at the same time – around 1960.While there is no direct connection between the two artists, the project makes it clear that they “shared” an experience of life.Their sounds and images reflect the world of a particular “utopian” ideology – a concept imposed on everybody during the Soviet period," he added.

Violinist also spoke about how he discovered Mieczyslav Weinberg’s music.

"I discovered Mieczyslav Weinberg’s music fairly late in my life, but immediately became one of its most fervent advocates. His Preludes can be perceived as emotionally charged “sound pictures”, while Antanas Sutkus’ highly expressive images make a unique contribution to the dynamic force of the project. This is a realm of multi-layered stories," said Kremer.

"By adding the sounds of my violin, my aim is to allow viewers and listeners to enter the “lost time” and by doing so, to add the perspective of human beings who are still alive.I want to express my thanks to all those friends of mine who contributed to the realisation of this project:Rima Sutkiene, Giedre Dirvanauskaite, Vilius Keras, Aleksandra Keriene, Andrei Pushkarev, Sandro Kancheli and Glynis Thompson," he added.



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