Oriented on making people closer

One day, several stars of the Turkmen music scene talked and decided to create a new band called the Ashgabat Camerata or the Ashgabat Camerata (AC). Everyone has benefited from this decision, and above all we are an army of grateful listeners.

Each of the members of the collective is in itself a unique performing unit, a great musician, with amazing technique and skill. Playing in an ensemble, they create, as one of the famous composers said, a reference sound. Every sound, every phrase, passage is verified and honed. There is no place for playing instruments for the sake of playing, but there is filigree performance for the sake of high art.

The rapidly growing popularity of the musical ensemble among people of the older and younger generation can also be explained by the fact that the artistic director of the Camerata, violinist Bahram Dolyev, together with his associates (Tahir Ataev, Abadan Meredova, Kakageldy Hojalekov, Aylar Botayarova, Ismail Sahetmuradov, Akmurad Kurbanov) is very careful about the selection of the program. It consists not only of masterpieces of world classics. Every time the musicians introduce their listeners to new composers, fresh musical innovations.

Thus, camerats manage to satisfy the demands of listeners of all ages, musical tastes and stay on the same wavelength with the public. And in general, less than a year has passed, and the AK musical group is in great demand everywhere. There is not a single major concert in the capital where these guys would not perform. And I want to exclaim, as in the opera: "Camerata - there, Camerata - here!"

Another "invisible" member of the AK team, a young musician and conductor Dovlet Okdirov, also deserves special mention. Although he does not go on stage with the rest of the Camerata musicians, but we can say that he is present everywhere. Dovlet is engaged in arrangements, instrumentation and arrangements for the Camerata collective. Thanks to his knowledge, professionalism and ability to work, AC was able to give a record number of concerts in such a short time.

As for the recent concert, the Ashgabat Camerata managed to "squeeze" a new concert program into its tight and busy schedule of performances. Despite the fact that the date of this musical evening was postponed three times (due to the Camerata's creative trip as part of the Turkmen delegation to Korea), in jest or seriously, the positive karma of this concert program played a decisive role here, as it is fashionable to say today. It includes works that are exceptionally fateful – both for the authors of the compositions, and for the performers, and even for the listeners themselves.

There is no need to go far for examples. As we were told, it was at this concert that one young couple decided to get married. To the sounds of the song "Our Love" (from the repertoire of the popular singer David Bisbal) performed by Begench Moshiev, the guy proposed to his girlfriend, handing her an entrance ticket to this concert rolled up in the form of a scroll and threaded into a wedding ring.

By the way, Begench himself also once confessed his love to his wife during a concert. He came on stage with a bouquet of flowers and performed a romantic song in Italian. It's nice that this romantic relay race was picked up and now it has become a good tradition among young people with good musical taste to invite their halves on dates to Camerata concerts.

However, about everything in order. The concert program of the evening opened with the work of Henri Vietana "Caprice for viola". The serene and happy beginning of the life and musical career of this Belgian composer, teacher, virtuoso violinist, whom contemporaries compared even with the great Paganini, was subsequently overshadowed by a number of sad events. However, they did not break the spirit of the musician and composer, but on the contrary - pushed them to conquer new heights and "compose" a new destiny and life for themselves. It is possible that his mood was influenced by facts from the life of Maestro Paganini, who was distinguished by an indomitable spirit and will. And it was to him that the composer Vietan dedicated his "Caprice for Viola".

Tahir Atayev performed this complex piece flawlessly and very artistically. The name obliges. When the words Caprice and Paganini are next to each other, you should play perfectly, otherwise it is impossible.

And here is another amazing essay involved in the fate of many people. The concert featured the composition "Fly" by composer Ludovico Einaudi from the music to the film "1 + 1 or the Untouchables" that won the hearts of the audience. The film tells about the life drama and friendship of two people, one of whom is a completely paralyzed disabled person, the other is rejected by society, unemployed. Both of them were beyond the bounds of ordinary life. This heartwarming film based on real events has helped many people not to lose heart, find the meaning of life even in extremely difficult and hopeless situations, fall in love, make plans, enjoy every new day and move forward.

The composer himself, who unwittingly influenced the fate of millions, believes that music can tell and portray everything that cannot be conveyed in words and acting, it is subject to convince, motivate, inspire. It was after the release of this film that many became actively interested in the work of the composer Einaudi, and he gained truly worldwide popularity.

The program of the musical evening also featured Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise", performed by the talented oboist Didar Emudov with Camerata. This essay has an interesting fate. The melody of vocalization (a song without words), created by Rachmaninov during the years of hard times and difficult changes, became a kind of author's repentance, farewell to the Motherland, in anticipation of distant wanderings.

Having created this work, the composer was in no hurry to show it to the public for several years. Several new Rachmaninoff compositions had already been written, published, and even performed, and the Vocalise was still lying in a drawer. But it was as if some higher forces intervened, and the composer remembered him again.

After the premiere performance and publication, this composition became so popular that its arrangements appeared, for almost all musical instruments. Listening to the melody of "Vocalise", it seems that she is like a kite blown by the wind into the clouds, hovering in the air, making spirals and intricate figures. Watching his flight, you keep thinking that just a little more, and the fresh spring wind will leave the kite alone, and it will safely land on the ground. But then new gusts of wind pick him up and carry him higher and higher into the bottomless blue sky. The legendary singer Antonina Nejdanova was the first to sing this wonderful aerial "Vocalization", to whom Rachmaninov dedicated it.

The music of the British composer Philip Arnold Heseltine was also played that evening. This musician is known for having struggled with life's difficulties and vicissitudes all his life. In an attempt to catch his luck and deceive fate, he even came up with the pseudonym Peter Warlock. Under this name, he published his "Suite for Strings" of six movements. A suite is, in simple terms, a cycle of musical compositions of a dance nature. The number of parts in one suite can vary, from four to six or seven. It's up to the author to decide.

This is the work of Heseltine (Warlock), also known as "Capriol". It is written on the themes of dance melodies taken from a 16th-century French treatise on the art of dance. Interestingly, the music of the suite combines an ancient and at the same time modern sound. Celtic musical culture had a strong influence on the composer's style and language, the proximity to which the composer always liked to emphasize.

By the way, according to my personal observations cameratists like to play suites. This is the fourth suite they have performed. Probably musicians are attracted by a variety of musical forms, genres and moods within one cycle, and the public is not bored.

People's Artist of Turkmenistan Leyli Okdirova sang the song "It Seems" from the repertoire of Anna Herman, a singer with a difficult fate who overcame a million life obstacles. Her story is an example of courage and dedication to art.

The evening continued with the song "Eternal Love" from the repertoire of Charles Aznavour, which Leyli Okdirova and Begench Moshiev performed as a duet. They say that it was enough for Aznavour to sing just this song, and he would still become a legend. This song has become a real business card of the singer. A touching and sincere melody, so familiar, and at the same time sounding new every time, evokes thoughts of an impossible dream and hope.

But let's not be sad. Eternal love is not a beautiful trick of poets at all. Despite the claims of biochemists that love lives for three years, and the phrases of cynics about tomatoes, Harvard scientists have already accurately calculated and proved that this feeling can last forever.

Another interesting opening of the concert was the work of the Romanian composer Shcherban Nikifor, the author of the Klezmer Dance for clarinet and strings. Klezmers in Europe were called Jewish musicians. This piece is permeated with motifs of Jewish melodies, which gives the sound a certain orientation and even exoticism. The novelty pleased the guests of the evening, and they listened with undisguised pleasure.

By the way, the composer composed a whole series of dances to Jewish motifs. Among them are "Wedding Dance", "Little Dance", "Klezmer's Joke", "Klezmer Fantasy" and "Klezmer Suite". This composer is also known for having written a dissertation on the Holocaust in musical creativity. He played a big role in promoting works dedicated to the victims of the Nazis. It is unknown how the fate of these compositions would have turned out if not for the efforts of the composer Shcherban Nikifor.

"The concert is over, long live the new concert!" - one can say, paraphrasing an old French saying that was uttered when the new king ascended the throne.

Coincidence or not, the program of this unforgettable concert consisted of compositions that somehow influenced the course of various events. From which the only correct conclusion follows: listen to music, go to concerts, and you will be happy!

Ayna SHIROVA

Photo: provided by Bahram Dolyev