FULL Isaak Dunaevsky & Veniamin Basner Concert St.Petersburg 2025 Natalia Savchenko, Oleg Romashin
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Isaak Dunaevsky & Veniamin Basner Concert
- Composer: Isaak Dunaevsky, Veniamin Basner
- Libretto: various
- Venue & Opera Company: Capella of St.Petersburg, Russia
- Recorded: May 23, 2025
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Natalia Savchenko, Oleg Romashin
- Conductor: Andrey ALEKSEEV
- Orchestra: Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Capella
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Capella St.Petersburg
- Date Published: 2025
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
In connection with the significant anniversaries, the Capella Orchestra under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia Andrey Alekseev honors two remarkable Russian composers – Isaak Dunaevsky and Veniamin Basner. A contemporary of the 20th century, Isaak Dunaevsky entered the history of Russian art with the epithets “Soviet Mozart” and “Red Strauss”. The composer lived a short but surprisingly bright life, filled with creativity. His works became the “calling card” of Soviet music, had a colossal impact on a huge audience, inspired Soviet people with the pathos of sincere romanticism. The author of ballets, symphonic and piano opuses, cantatas, choirs, romances, Dunaevsky became famous, first of all, for his wonderful film music. In addition, the composer remained an unrivaled master of Russian operetta, although this area of his work is less known. Mastering all the styles and genres of modern music, Dunaevsky masterfully combined academic canons with the trends of pop and jazz. He had an innate melodic gift and considered melody to be the “alpha and omega” of his works. Although his talent as an orchestrator was no less virtuosic and colorful. The audience will appreciate all this in the first part of the concert. It will feature romances, arias and duets from the operettas “Golden Valley”, “White Acacia”, “Roads to Happiness”. Along with them, the audience will be treated to favorite songs and colorful orchestral numbers from the films “Bright Path”, “Jolly Fellows”, “Kuban Cossacks”, “A Girl Hurries to a Date”. The second part of the concert is dedicated to Veniamin Basner, whose music has won no less popular love and recognition. Basner’s talent as a creator was universal, and the range of his creative interests was unusually wide. For the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the Capella will present his work in a variety of ways. In the academic sphere, he followed the artistic maxims of his idol and mentor D. D. Shostakovich. Basner’s symphonies, operas and ballets, chamber music were in great demand. A native of Yaroslavl, the composer largely shaped the musical atmosphere of Leningrad, where he studied, lived and worked from 1944. Like Dunaevsky, he left interesting operettas and musicals.
The program on January 18 included the best fragments from the operettas “Polar Star” and “A Heroine is Wanted”. But the main time was given to the legendary film music of Basner, his romances and songs. Having come to cinema by chance, the composer became one of the masters of the music of the “third genre”. He worked with the best directors of the country, masterfully and with the greatest truthfulness embodied heroic-patriotic epics, lyrical-psychological dramas, light comedies with refined humor. Songs that came from the pen of Basner immediately became hits and retained their enduring value.
The concert audience will be able to enjoy their favorite pieces: “Fragrant Clusters of White Acacia”, “Birch Juice”, “It Was Recently, It Was Long Ago”, “For the Rest of My Life”, “Dragoon Song”. There will also be orchestral fragments from films, captivating with nostalgic poetry and temperamental dance rhythms. The participation of soloists Natalia Savchenko (soprano) and Oleg Romashin (baritone) in the concert promises the highest artistry and emotional depth in the interpretation of the music of two great masters.