Rachmaninov, Symphonie No.2
The Rock. Allegro molto
Nina Svetlanova:
I am delighted that the second Competition will be held in Montpellier,
as France became the Maestro’s second homeland and Montpellier
was one of his favourite cities. The Russian State Symphony Orchestra
performed almost every year at the Radio France music festival and
his last opera performance was “Madame Butterfly” at the
Montpellier old City opera house which has a proud history.
Evgeny Svetlanov was a longstanding friend of the gifted musician
and organizer René Koering who is highly respected. He uttered
the famous words which are quoted in all books, programmes and brochures:
“musicians in an orchestra are experienced, very difficult to
trick, they have seen many conductors and know and understand a lot.
Well, the French orchestras with which Evgeny Svetlanov worked idolized
him. Japanese, German, Dutch and Finnish orchestras responded in the
same way. Svetlanov was universal. Russia should be proud that it
gave the world a genius of his stature”.
The
21st century has become starved of famous names. The best have become
part of history and the new century is gathering strength before a
new creative surge. The Maestro fully understood this. The conducting
competition was created at his behest and with a specific goal, namely
to discover new talents and enable them to develop their art and contribute
to our musical scene. The first competition was held in Luxembourg
and was an overwhelming success. Although the first prize was not
awarded, as a competent jury decided that none of the candidates was
remotely close to Svetlanov in terms of talent, the main point is
that all of our prize-winners not only received prize money but found
work, with invitations from the world’s leading orchestras and
opera houses. This is a crucial factor for any musician, as unfortunately
there have been instances of prize-winners remembering the prize as
the main event of their life, while receiving almost no serious invitations
to perform and apply their artistic skills.
I am very grateful to all those who support the competition, in particular
to Marina Bower, a close friend of our family and an prominent impresario,
and to René Koering, as well as to all musicians and sponsors.
It is particularly appropriate that it is being held during the official
French-Russian year. I am confident that the Evgeny Svetlanov competition
will have a long, rewarding life.
Introduction
