In April 2019, violist/conductor Maxim Rysanov and composer Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei) were walking along the Danube shores in Budapest, discussing a new concerto project together. What if Maxim were to play a concerto AND conduct it? Gabriel found that idea compelling and very much in resonance with all of his work’s basic thrust of inhabiting parallel musical avenues. Prokofiev challenges many of the dusty narratives the classical genre has grown up with; at the same time, he operates equally in both the classical world as much as in the dance, grime, electro and hip-hop production sphere.
His new Concerto for Viola (and conductor) was commissioned by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, La Verdi Orchestra Milan, The Oregon Music Festival, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and premiered on January 14th (and repeated on the 16th) with the Beethoven Bonn Orchester at the Bonn Opera House. The first program also included Rysanov conducting Sergei Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4; in the second concert, he conducted the Viola Concerto and the Tchaikovsky, followed by a Q & A with the audience.
“My love for the theatre and interaction between the soloist and the orchestra in concerto form has led me to composing seven concertos,” writes Prokofiev in his program notes. So this composer, whose concerto output includes two for turntables, one for saxophone, and another for bass drum, thought the “idea of the soloist being able to stop playing their instrument and then control the orchestra was an extra element of drama that was irresistible to me.”
Prokofiev explained further in his notes: “The Concerto was composed mainly in 2020 during the first six months of the pandemic (with movement III finished in October 2021). Though this is not a ‘covid concerto,’ the new normal of lock-downs, empty streets, and increased social media certainly had a strong influence on this work.” He wrote that “the wider theme of this concerto is a reflection on and reaction to contemporary global life, [from fear to hope, and the ironies we see in the global scenario] and the challenges facing each individual – as expressed through the solo Viola.”
Rysanov’s tour-de-force performance on both his instrument and the podium were rewarded with a glowing review from the Bonn press: “If you want to learn how to combine a certain nonchalance with precision, you should watch Maxim Rysanov conduct … Prokofiev wrote the half-hour concerto specifically for Rysanov [who] conducts the work with head and body, with viola and bow and always remains master of the action in this complex mixture: a really impressive performance … [T]here was great applause for the soloist, the orchestra and the composer, who had traveled all the way from London.”
The same review praised his conducting: “Rysanov danced to the beat of the music, tossing the cues to the musicians like pawns, which they gratefully accepted, rushing swiftly through the notes, like the flute in the fourth movement. Every accent, every character was perfect.”
In an email, Rysanov expressed his appreciation: “Gabriel’s new viola concerto is truly a masterpiece. We conceived it as a hybrid genre where the soloist is also a conductor. Once video footage is ready, you will see what kind of action it is. Fireworks!” Prokofiev returned the enthusiasm: “Maxim was a double virtuoso [that] weekend… Tilmann Böttcher (dramaturg/manager of Beethoven Bonn Orchester) remarked that ‘Maxim seemed to be doing some kind of magical dance on stage. And perhaps he has invented a new martial art! Certainly, he did cast magic over the orchestra & audience’.”
Future performances of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Viola, with Rysanov conducting, include Milan (18 October 2022), Cardiff (23 June 2022), and Oregon Music Festival (USA) (June 2023). With great anticipation, we hope it will be possible to hear it here in Budapest as well.
