Installation of an air-defense balloon on Nevsky Prospekt in Leningrad during the blockade. Archival photo.
On September 8th, marking the 84th anniversary of the start of the Siege of Leningrad, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic will present a special memorial program dedicated to the music composed in the besieged city.
In the Grand Hall`s foyer, renowned St. Petersburg pianist Nikolay Mazhara will perform a unique program titled `Leningrad Notebook.` This collection unites works by Leningrad composers such as Valerian Bogdanov-Berezovsky, Yuli Kremlev, Boris Goltz, Orest Evlakhov, Yuri Kochurov, and Alexander Kamensky. The program emerged from extensive research into musical scores preserved in the Philharmonic`s own music library. Dr. Yulia Kantor, a prominent historian, will provide insightful commentary.
The Philharmonic, whose halls resonated with music throughout most of the war years – with the exception of the deadliest first winter of the blockade – reverently honors the memory of those tragic days and the musicians who bravely kept concert life alive in the beleaguered city. Dr. Kantor emphasized the profound significance of this event, stating:
“It is fundamentally important for us that the music of Leningrad composers, many of whom did not live to see victory, will once again be heard. This concert is a tribute to their memory.”
The program will feature works by composers who remained in the blockaded city, continuing their artistic endeavors while enduring the horrors of war. All of them were graduates of the Leningrad Conservatory. Among them is Valerian Mikhailovich Bogdanov-Berezovsky, not only a composer but also a leading music critic of Leningrad, author of over 250 books and articles on Russian and Soviet music, opera, and ballet. Mazhara will perform three pieces from his cycle `Russian Landscapes`: `Volga Expanse,` `Steppe Vastness,` and `Fogs Over the River.`
Also included are compositions by Yuli Kremlev, a composer and pianist whose radio performances during the war offered crucial support to the city`s inhabitants. Describing his `Waltzes of Winter Twilight` cycle, Mazhara notes, “In these pieces, one senses a uniquely poetic atmosphere: the lightness of the initial waltzes gradually yields to darker, more subdued intonations; it becomes clear that they evoke the winter twilight of besieged Leningrad.”
Composer Boris Goltz also lived and worked in blockaded Leningrad. A portion of his piano cycle `24 Preludes` will be performed. Mazhara highlights Goltz`s crucial importance, stating, “This work was created before the war, but Goltz`s figure is fundamentally significant for us. His contemporaries, including Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich, highly valued his work. During the blockade, Goltz primarily composed mass songs intended to boost the morale of the residents, but he never returned to piano music. He himself perished during the hungry winter.”
The new concert season of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic will commence on September 25th, coinciding with Dmitry Shostakovich`s birthday. The Honored Collective of Russia, under the baton of the Philharmonic`s principal conductor Nikolay Alexeev, will perform Dmitry Shostakovich`s Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti (featuring baritone Boris Pinkhasovich), as well as Boris Tishchenko`s symphonic poem `Francesca da Rimini` and Pyotr Tchaikovsky`s fantasy for orchestra `Francesca da Rimini.`
