ABOUT PERFORMANCE
For his new project Teodor Kurentzis has chosen the modern interpretation of Schubert's vocal cycle 'Winter Journey' (Winterreise) composed by a German composer Hans Zender. The music is played by the small orchestra of MusicAeterna, the solo is performed by the tenor Boris Rural, who the conductor calls the a new hope of Perm Opera.
Teodor Kurentzis:
- Performing Schubert's 'Winterreise' in Zender's interpretation was our dream for a long time. Finally, we can present our work, which will become the first performance of this work in Russia. – ‘Winterreise’will become a debut in contemporary music.
Alexei Romanov:
- It happened that I didn't work on the material, but let it work on me: I just listened to the music and noted down all the images that appeared in my mind, all without any censorship. In fact, these are a kind of Burroughs's sketches beyond any principles of rational logic, but rather formed within the dramaturgic law of dreams. Eventually, we got a full-length experimental film, which even I myself will see complete only at the first night. With Teodor we talked little about the conception, more about the aesthetic preferences , about particular images, tried our ideas, operating a range of cinematic images. It seems that I first met such an experienced cinema viewer. We turned out to have the same favourite director, for example, Derek Jarman, so it was quite easy to communicate.
‘Winterreise’ is one of the last works by Schubert, which he called ‘a wreath of wicked songs’. In the vocal cycle there is no plot development – the wanders of the hero have neither beginning and nor end. The dull mood is set in the first part and dominate until the end. Only for a moment they are enlightened with sweet memories and false hopes. Morbid is the surrounding nature: the snow covering the entire Earth, the frozen spring, the wandering light luring into howling rocks, the raven waiting for a stranger’s death. The simplicity of the melody and form brings the songs closer to folk. In 1993 inspired by the main Schubert’s tragic expression the composer and conductor Hanz Zender composed a fantasie for tenor and small orchestra in a close connection with Schubert’s style and the use of strange sound effects, emphasizing on the coldness and metaphysical dullness of the piece. The first night was on May,30th, 2014 in Perm Theatre of Opera and Ballet.