January 24, 2013 was a major holiday for all people who love and understand music not only in Russia but in the whole world: Yuri Bashmet celebrated his 60th jubilee. He is usually referred to as Maestro however older generation admirers also call him “violist Danilov” by the name of the main character in a novel by Vladimir Orlov which was very popular in the Soviet Union in early ’90s of the last century.
No matter how they call Yuri Bashmet one thing is clear – he is one of the few musicians destined to open new horizons and guidelines for future generations. Bashmet made the viol a leader of modern concert art.
On the day of the jubilee Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the musician with the Order for the Merits to the Motherland IV Degree. It was not the first or last award in the life of the Maestro. His collection includes two French decorations – Legion of Honor Order and the Order of Arts and Letters, Italian Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Lithuanian Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas…
Decorations are not as important as the breakthrough he achieved in musical art. He raised the viol to a completely new level and moved it from the shade of violins to the center stage. His energy and charm also fill in his everyday life like skills with the fiddle bow do on stage.
Bashmet is a very sincere person. A diplomatic man would keep silent or respond evasively while he is different. He is often attacked for that by people who are not keen in music, specifically classical music, and who devoted all their life to the struggle on political barricades.
My interpretation of Beethoven or Schubert does not depend on the leaders of the country beginning from Brezhnev and up to nowadays. It can transform with years but it does not depend on the instructions of the ruling party and government. When our great composers, e.g. Prokofiev or Shostakovich, had to compose something on order it did not spoil their music. But our people enjoy swimming in political ways. Our pendulum is eternal and swings from one extreme to the other. We unveil monuments and then pull them down. But you cannot change history by revenging monuments. Why did they stop playing Khrennikov’s music? He composed outstanding music, e.g. the First Symphony. He lived and worked in the same time as Shostakovich.
Yuri Bashmet made a breakthrough in musical art. He raised the viol to a completely new level and moved it from the shade of violins to the center stage.
From childhood
Yuri was born in Rostov-on-Don into a typical family of the time. Father Abram was a railway engineer while mother Maya – a philologist and teacher. The father moved to Lvov when Yuri was six. The future violist grew up there and nothing predicted his exciting career.
Lvov was a specific city at the time. The mother was mostly afraid her son would get involved in a bad company and end in prison. Therefore, she quickly enlisted him into a music school to deny free time. Young hooligans were known to walk around in the yard with a violin case. Nobody thought about a viol at the time. It appeared in Yuri’s life later. He disclosed how it happened:
The mother feared bad street company and decided I had to do something after school. The violin was the cheapest instrument. It cost nine or 15 rubles. Thus, I got a violin after I finished the first form. My mother did it all properly. I was not locked up in a room like Paganini and was not compelled to rehearse for eight hours daily. She did not deny me food when I was tired of playing and allowed me to bike. I remember the wise words of Solyarsky: I do not need talented children, I need talented mothers. I was transferred to a specialized music school which combined general and musical education. I had to jump one class in the music school. W e did it with my mother but it turned out there was no free place in the violin class. The mother did not object the viol as she was told it was just a big violin. I was too small for the viol and played the violin in a viol class. When I turned out to be the best violinist in the school my teacher Vishnevskaya did not want me to switch to the viol. The director said he had to consult the parents who would decide.
However it was Yuri who made the decision. He made his choice not because he admired the sounds of viol. There were other reasons for that.
I loved to play guitar — I played in a band and we performed The Beatles songs, but I played the violin for my mom. It was important for her that I keep studying. Vishnevskaya gave me astonishing technique and I began to feel the breath of the instrument. I met one good violist who said: play the viol and you will have more free time to play the guitar. In the violin class they had to play Paganini eight hours a day. I made the choice which determined my life.
It was excellent life, Yuri recalls. Imagine a boy with long Beatles-like hair who organized his own band that quickly became popular in the city. His hobby even earned him some money. But once classical music accidentally burst into his life. From The Beatles affection Bashmet retained long hair but classical music and spirituality definitely took the upper hand. The great violist recalled how it happened:
Once in school we listened to the Sixth Symphony by Tchaikovsky and the Second Concert by Rachmaninoff. I once woke up the mother and father who listened to Tchaikovsky with me. It is still my beloved music.
So he fell in love. After the Lvov music school Yuri Bashmet entered the Moscow Conservatoire. It was a new stage of his life as he joined the elite of domestic musical art.
I once woke up the mother and father who listened to Tchaikovsky with me. It is still my beloved music.
Conquering the heights
Second-year student Bashmet made a purchase which he cannot abandon up to now – a viol by Paolo Testore (1758). He played various famous instruments created by outstanding masters – Stradivari, Guarneri. However he did not even think to change his old Testore for something new. He is loyal to all his affections. He narrates the viol purchase story as a meeting with a beloved human being.
We were destined to meet. I bought the old instrument in late ’70s when I was first-year student. It cost 1500 rubles — half the price of a Zaporozhets car. I did not have the money. My father borrowed it from acquaintances and relatives and I repaid the amount for long. Half a year later I was offered another instrument for three thousand rubles. Actually I had to sell the old one, borrow more money and buy the new one. But we matched so well with the viol. I no longer looked for new instruments.
Naturally I played Guarneri and Stradivari and know the strength of the instruments. However I have a better understanding with my viol. It is like in marriage — we have mutual under standing.
Second-year student of the Conservatoire Yuri Bashmet became popular in sophisticated musical circles. They spoke about him a lot and said the student had a great future. He was sent to participate in prestigious international competitions. The year of 1975 was decisive as Yuri Bashmet won the second prize at an international competition of violists and a year later received Grand Prix at a competition in Munich.
Next year he graduated from the Conservatoire and was actively engaged in concerts and performed not only in Russia but also in Germany with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Two years later the Moscow Conservatoire invited him to work as a teacher in the alma mater. In ten years Bashmet became a master of sciences and then a PhD. He did not idle his time away and always looked for something new in profession. He created and headed an experimental viol desk in the Conservatoire. Besides solo viol repertoire the curriculum also included the history of performing styles of the past and present, a course of viol roles in chamber, opera and symphonic music.
Yuri Bashmet is also the founder and jury chairman of the first and only Russian International competition of violists in Moscow and president of the Lionel Tertis International competition of violists in England. Now his students win international competitions. It was the time when Bashmet’s viol conquered the best concert halls in Europe and many outstanding musicians invited him to join their concerts, among them Stanislav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Anne-Sophi Mutter, Gidon Kremer, Viktor Tretyakov, and others.
Distinguished composers began to produce music for him. Alfred Schnittke composed a viol concert for Yuri Bashmet which was his best composition that finally convinced the world that the viol can do everything and is a full-fledged solo instrument. For the first time in world performance history Yuri Bashmet and his old viol gave solo concerts in most popular halls of the world: Carnegie Hall in New York, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Barbican in London, the Berlin Philharmonic and La Scala in Milan. Nobody has ever dared do it. But Bashmet was born to be a pioneer .
Moscow Soloists — two birthdays of chamber orchestra
Yuri Bashmet became a conductor by chance. He once had to conduct an orchestra to replace ill Valery Gergiyev. It did not trigger major consequences but recollections definitely remained. Then another occasion happened. Yuri Bashmet recalls:
Young and advanced artistic director of La Scala in Milan decided to invite me for a solo concert. The viol played solo for the first time in Italy. It was a courageous undertaking as some audience could be scared off while another attracted. The concert was a success. I was offered to give another concert and it was again a success. It was difficult to find the repertoire for a third concert as not much has been composed for viol. I suggested some sonatas and settings. They rejected saying they needed hits. I have already played Schuman, Brahms, and Schubert. We could hardly find enough compositions for a concert. It was a true repertoire hunger. I understood it was necessary to change the format. There was an idea to switch to a different genre — chamber conducting. I was enthusiastic about it although as a soloist I was extremely negative about conductors. Only few of them feel the music as good as musicians do. A violist is no sound maker and no a virtuoso who kills the audience with professional skills. He is a person who can come close to the idea of the composer and diffract it through himself. There is another type of a thinker or extravagant performer who focuses attention on specifics of his personal interpretation. There are few of them.
Among violinists they are Gideon Kremer and Thomas Tietmye, and Richter was among pianists. You have to display charm on stage. You either have it or not.
The violist has proper charm. In 1986 the Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra emerged. Bashmet successfully toured with it for seven and a half years until the musicians decided to remain in France where they had a term contract. Yuri Bashmet numerously said it was a major shock for him. He had to leave the musicians and quit the leadership of the orchestra. But in 1992 he returned to the idea of a chamber orchestra and created a new one. He selected musicians who he knew not by hearsay. They were graduates and post-graduates of the Moscow Conservatoire. Now the Moscow Soloists Orchestra is a brand identity of Russia and a quality sign. In 2008 it won the most prestigious musical prize — Grammy for the best chamber performance of Stravinsky and Prokofiev.
Ten years ago Bashmet headed the New Russia State Symphonic Orchestra which confirms that he never rests on the laurels and is in constant search for a platform for musical experiments. A typical example: on November 28, 2012 Sochi hosted the first gala concert by musicians of the first pan-Russian junior competition launched by Yuri Bashmet. However the story of the first Moscow Soloists who preferred to stay in France raises a question: why has the maestro never even hinted about settling down somewhere in Europe and visit Russia only occasionally?
Yuri Bashmet explained it frankly and comprehensively:
There are things which are difficult to explain. You do not voice them. Such simple notions as music, listener, performer contain much more than it seems. When I travel in Russia the notions unite in one community. The audience is mine while I belong to it. It is the main and exciting difference between a concert in Russia and outside it. I value a concert in the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire higher than in Carnegie Hall. You can find the same understanding and feeling abroad only if there is big Russian Diaspora — Israel or America. Otherwise nobody and nowhere has the same emotions as in Russia. There is only love to some performers which develops with years. Naturally, it exists in Italy, France or England but I lack what is above the music there. There is no common language. The audience has not left me and it means the listeners lead a complex life. I am not saying their life is not bright. There are things which are not explained by words. We breathe them. There is an incredible understanding between those who live in Russia. It unites us…
Bashmet narrates the purchase story of his viol which plays up to now as a meeting with a beloved human being.
There are things which you do not write or say. They are in the air. For example, everyone wants to leave the country to enjoy freedom. But to have freedom you need an address to be free from something. If there is no address it is no freedom but anarchy. I like my address which is Moscow, Russia. I like to come back there.
Few words about why Yuri Bashmet agrees to perform not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg but also in small towns which are usually called provincial:
I like it in the provinces. It is important for my work to keep the current communications running. You feel me and I feel you. The same happens with music. A small town often gives more than a concert abroad because people listen to music differently here. For small town classical music is a discovery, a revelation.
Talented in all
Everything what Yuri Bashmet undertakes becomes a major event. Besides music he did not hesitate to star in a continuation of the ASSA blockbuster By Sergei Solovyov. The first part was shot for the generation which grew up in the 1980s, while the second takes place 20 years later for current generation and speaks about its problems and rock music. It was also an experiment as Bashmet recalled his affection to rock and electric guitar in young years. It was exciting to see him performing Want to Sky song together with the Leningrad band of Sergei Shnurov.
Did Bashmet dream of anything which did not come true? The maestro was frank:
Only in music. I have done a lot out of my plans. For example, I dreamt of performing Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. It has happened and reoccurred numerous times. What is impossible is to learn the Second Concert by Rachmaninoff and perform it on piano. I do not have enough skills. So there are things which I will never accomplish, unfortunately.
It seems there is no sense to continue describing Yuri Bashmet. On the eve of his jubilee he gathered a group of journalists and told them what he thinks is important in life, which rules are obligatory for any person who considers himself to be a decent man.
Human decency
I often say that human decency is most important. If I have to decide whether to keep a less talented musician in the orchestra and teach him playing or instead keep an indecent genius, I prefer the former. Such things happened in my life, but thanks God there were only two cases. An act by a musician contradicted my principles. I cannot tolerate you-be-damned attitude to business. Overall quality should not suffer because of one person.
Musician or conductor?
It is difficult to answer the question in two words. Naturally, I am changing. One thing is to be a soloist and quite another to be a conductor. These are different states of mind. Have you ever played the roulette? He who played will understand me. It is like putting one chip on red and another on black and wait what happens. In that sense no matter how brilliantly Rostropovich conducted he still remains a great cellist. No matter how good Pletnev conducted he still is a great pianist. The same concerns Spivakov. I was the first to make the viol a soloist. Therefore, they associate me first and foremost with a violist, not conductor.
Although… I am no conductor in life but when I stand at the conductor’s desk it becomes necessary to use your will and power to carry a hundred people with you. One specialty is too narrow for me. It is impossible to play one and the same music by a dozen composers all your life in order to travel the world and earn a living. I want to have something new and develop myself and the repertoire.
About violist Danilov
I was already popular when the novel came out. They called me different names — demonic (for long hair), Paganini, and even Gagarin for the breakthrough of the viol into soloist life. I have long reconciled with comparison to violist Danilov although initially it irritated me. I found the author — Vladimir Orlov and the violist who he described in the novel. His name was Vladimir Grot. He was slim, tall, had a beard and worked in the Bolshoi Theater. A hundred percent demon! I even held his viol in my hands. Mine is better. When the novel came out again for the 36th time and it happened in Japan they put my portrait on the cover without permission. What can I do about it? Years passed and it all settled down. A month and a half ago my friend and composer Sasha Tchaikovsky told me: “I have the first night of Violist Danilov opera in Porkovsky theater. I devoted it to you”. A gain violist Danilov!
Musical joke from Yuri Bashmet
Jokes are mostly invented by musicians, I believe by violinists. They do it because of envy as viol does not demand so much training as violin. I will tell you a joke: the conductor did not come to a performance. What is to be done as the loss of concert means a big budget hole? They began to call another conductor, then another one, but all of them were busy. All of a sudden the violist in the back row said the whole concert program was his 25-year old diploma. So he suggested to conduct the orchestra. He got to the stand and the orchestra performed concerts for four days. Then the conductor came and the violist went back to his place. His neighbor violist asked him: “Where have you been all the time?”
Andrei Karavaev,
for Amber Bridge