Choir
CHOIR OF THE STATE CAPELLA OF RUSSIA
There was an intensive collaboration with Alfred Schnittke: Valery Polyansky conducted the Moscow premiere of the cantata "the History of Doctor Faust" (Historia von D. Johann Fauster). Alfred Schnittke dedicated a choral concert to Valery Polyansky on the texts of the Armenian poet G. Narekatsi. " I was absolutely amazed by the tonal purity of the choir — said Alfred Schnittke after one of the concerts. All the voices of complex polyphonic texture were perfectly heard without mixing up. It seemed you saw a music score in front of you.…»
1980 - another turning point in the biography of Valery Polyansky. After a brilliant participation in the cultural program of the Summer Olympics in Moscow, where the Chamber choir had performed 16 concerts, the collective received a professional status and became The State Chamber Choir of USSR Ministry of Culture.
Choir of the State Symphony Capella of Russia was founded by the conductor Valery Polansky in 1971. In 1975, the Capella won the International Competition "Guido d'Arezzo" (Italy), winning the Gold Medal in the category "academic singing" and "Golden Bell" - the symbol of the best choir of the contest
"Guido d'Arezzo" (Italy)
In 1980, the Choir took part in the cultural program of the Summer Olympics in Moscow. The fame of the collective went well beyond Russia: the choir was invited to different festivals such as ``Singing Wroclaw`` and ``Prague Autumn`` (Czech Republic). They performed in Merano (Italy) , Izmir (Turkey), Naarden (Holland); memorable participation was in the famous "Promenade Concerts" of Royal Albert Hall (Great Britain) and in historical cathedrals of France - in Bordeaux, Amiens, Albi. The choir was invited many times to a festival in Spoleto (Italy), where it took part in the performance of Prokofiev's opera ``War and Peace``, Wagner 's Lohengrin, and also performed Orff`s cantata ``Carmina Burana`` in Geneva.
video - S. Rachmaninov Rejoice Virgin
Schedrik
RACHMANINOV LITURGY OF ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, OP.31
S. Taneyev - The Twelve Choruses, Op. 27
FOTO - u48365.netangels.ru/en/multimedia/photo/27
45 -years to the Choir of the State Symphony Capella of Russia
The Choir of the State Symphony Capella of Russia – one of the most famous collectives of the country - whose founder and all-time leader is the people's artist of Russia, the laureate of the state prize Valery Polyansky, is going to celebrate its anniversary on December 1.
45 years ago, on the first December 1971, the first concert of the choir was held in the Small hall of the Moscow State Conservatory. Mozart's "Ave verum" and Tchaikovsky's "Night" were played in Taneev's instrumentation for chorus and the orchestra. As Valery Polyansky recalls, " it was necessary to find instrumentalists and the head of the department Alexei Zybtsev sent me a number of students. Mikhail Kopelman, Alexander Brusilovsky were playing the violins…. Reviews were the most favorable. Especially memorable are the words of David Fedorovich Oistrakh who heard the radio broadcast of the concert: "I think these guys have a promising future."
The next milestone: 1975, when during the prestigious competition "Guido d`Arezzo" in Italy Valery Polansky and his choir became winners. For the first time Russian musicians were awarded the gold medal in the nomination "academic singing", as well as a special prize awarded Polyansky as the best conductor of the contest and a "golden bell" — a symbol of the best choir of the competition. Italians wrote: "There was a collective with the highest technical qualities, with the richness of palette, with strong musical sense; in addition, they are headed by a young conductor whose talent is comparable only with the most outstanding performers."
Looking through the programs notes of those years, you are really surprised by the diversity of the musical compositions. The choir of Valery Polyansky was a desired guest on scientific conferences dedicated to G. Schutz and D. Bortniansky. It was also invited to different concerts in Conservatory to perform Debussy, Ravel, Hindemith, Britten, Shymanovsky, Ksheneka and Villa-Lobos.
Valery Polyansky and his singers always perform new music scores, having become permanent participants of the festival of modern music "Moscow autumn". The best Russian composers – N. Sidelnikov, E. Denisov, A. Schnittke, A. Vieru, M. Gagnidze dedicate their musical compositions to him.
"The State Symphony Choir, headed by the highly talented and brilliant master Valery Polyansky, is an amazing organism. Bright, creative, individual style of this young but already well-known collective is full of infinite possibilities, helps us expand our understanding of choir and choral writing itself. I am really delighted to communicate with this collective",-admitted Nikolai Sidelnikov.
"The State Symphony Choir, headed by the highly talented and brilliant master Valery Polyansky, is an amazing organism. Bright, creative, individual style of this young but already well-known collective is full of infinite possibilities, helps us expand our understanding of choir and choral writing itself. I am really delighted to communicate with this collective",-admitted Nikolai Sidelnikov.
There was an intensive collaboration with Alfred Schnittke: Valery Polyansky conducted the Moscow premiere of the cantata "the History of Doctor Faust" (Historia von D. Johann Fauster). Alfred Schnittke dedicated a choral concert to Valery Polyansky on the texts of the Armenian poet G. Narekatsi. " I was absolutely amazed by the tonal purity of the choir — said Alfred Schnittke after one of the concerts. All the voices of complex polyphonic texture were perfectly heard without mixing up. It seemed you saw a music score in front of you.…»
1980 - another turning point in the biography of Valery Polyansky. After a brilliant participation in the cultural program of the Summer Olympics in Moscow, where the Chamber choir had performed 16 concerts, the collective received a professional status and became The State Chamber Choir of USSR Ministry of Culture.
"The amazing crystal-clear and precise purity of intonation, ease of performance of Russian musicians, led by Polyansky... Obviously, this is done not only by the professionalism but it is also the result of close unity and mutual understanding between the choir and the conductor when individuality and collectiveness combine and excellent taste and artistry, technical perfection and a sense of style and measure are combined"
Valery Polyansky and the choir toured all the republics of the USSR, having visited TransСaucasian region, Baltics, Zelenograd and Petrozavodsk, Novosibirsk and Karaganda, Leningrad and Vologda. In 1986 Svyatoslav Richter invited Valery Polyansky and his choir to perform some works by P. Tchaikovsky on "December evenings" and in 1994 - "All-night Vigil" by Rachmaninoff. At the same time, the State Chamber Choir also conquered an international arena, triumphally performed with Valery Polyansky at ``The singing Wroclaw`` festival, different festivals in Merano (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), in Naarden (Holland). Memorable participation was in the famous "Promenade concerts" (England, 1991) – when the choir became the first Russian collective performing on the famous stage of Royal Albert Hall in the last 90 years; tours to France, where the State Chamber Choir sang in the historic cathedrals of Bordeaux, Amiens, Albi. In December 1991, the State Chamber Choir of USSR Ministry of Culture led by Valery Polyansky merged with the State Symphony Capella of Russia and since then common work of the orchestra and choir is alternated by its separate concert performances. The Choir toured many foreign countries – an opera festival in Spoletto (Italy) where in 1999 the choir sang Prokofiev's "War and peace"; in 2003 it took part in Wagner's "Lohengrin" and performed Orff`s cantata "Carmina Burana" in Geneva (Switzerland), the festival "Prague Autumn". In the 2000s, the collective is a desired guest in the United States, Croatia. Over the years, the Choir of the State Symphony Capella has sung almost all the masses, oratories, requiems of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, Verdi, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, Reger, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Eshpai. It participated in the monographic cycles of G. Rozhdestvensky dedicated to Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Tippett. Masterpieces of Russian and Western choral music by Bortnyansky, Taneev, Gretchaninov, Rachmaninoff, Bruckner and others were recorded. The Maitre is accompanied by his like-minded people: choirmasters - Sergei Veprintsev, Inna Kamenskaya, Olga Lapuzo, Alexander Khvatov. In recent years, Valery Polyansky gives a lot of energy to the genre of concert operas and operettas - Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Leonkavallo, Kalman, Donizetti, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Glinka, Legar. According to the critics reviews, "the concert performances of operas "by Polyansky" is the special power of the individual hero with his emotions in every scene and at the same time the "collective unconscious" of the whole composition". The noble, ideally balanced sounding and crystal-clear and precise intonation always distinguishes the choir of Valery Polyansky and there is no doubt that on its birthday the singers will conquer the audience with their unsurpassed skill.
