The Annual Bryansk Nicolai Roslavets and Naum Gabo Festival

l"\RT / SeIEN( ,I. F()Rt lVI The Annual Bryansk Nicolai Roslavets and Naum Gabo Festival Mark Efimovich Belodubrovsky Known far beyond the limits of Bryansk as a peculiar phenomenon bearing witness to the existence of the avant-garde in the provincial towns of Russia, the Nicolai Roslavets and Naum Gabo Festival is named after two natives of the Bryansk region who were also prominent representatives of twentieth-century Russian art. This return of these names to Bryansk soil is associated with the year 1984. On 28 May of that year in the Bryansk Music School hall, one could hear the music of Roslavets and see reproductions of Gabo paintings at a soiree dedicated to the creative work of these artists. For ideological reasons, Gabo was taken out of the list of participants in the next festival (delayed until 1986), which was named after composer Roslavets (1880/1881-1944). Roslavets was a key figure of the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s, the architect of a new system of organizing sound. Composer of symphonic, choir and chamber music, he was one of the initiators of "new music." The group of enthusiasts that initiated the Roslavets festivals had organized musical-literacy, theatrical and artistic soirees in Bryansk for many years and stimulated the creation of an art club known as "Apodion," established in 1978. In 1985 the club was closed by authorities , who later allowed it to continue functioning under the condition that its name be changed to "Consonance Musical Club." It was under the aegis of this club that the first festival held in Roslavets's name took place. Apodiori's traditions defined many aspects of the festival, including the orientation of its repertory and the atmosphere and character of the concerts. The goal of the festival became the popularization of long- or lately forgotten music. Works not only by Roslavets but also by other avant-garde composMark Efimovich Be1odubrovsky (musician, composer), ul. Uritzkogo 71, Bryansk, 241001 Russia. ers such as Golishev, Deshevov, Lourie, Mosolov and Protopopov were performed at the Roslavets festivals in Bryansk, at other venues in Russia and even around the world. Held every year in February, these festivals presented from four to six concerts . Among the works by Roslavets performed at the first festivals were the Third and Fifth String Quartets, the First Sonata, 24 Preludes, "The Legend " and "The Poem" for violin and piano and several piano miniatures and vocal compositions. These compositions were often recreated from manuscripts taken from the State Glinka Museum of musical culture. These and other compositions were interpreted by musicians from Bryansk. Along with the other members (V. Fish, I. Kaplun and E. Tereshin) of the string quartet to which I belong, I was among the performers who took an active part in the popularization of Roslavets's music. Also involved were soloist N. Yaromenok and pianists E. Kozlovskaia, I. Romashova and L. Severina. The programs also contained music by other Russians (Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich) and foreign classics of the twentieth century (by Ives, Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, Hindemith and Messiaen). The theme of these concerts was "Roslavets and His Epoch." At the concerts presenting classical and modern compositions of the twentieth century, music by composers such as Denisov, Schnittke, Slonimsky, Tishchenko, Gubaidulina, Part and Volkonsky was heard. The participation of poet and philosopher Arcadi Rouner (of New York) and his son, composer Anthones Rouner (a graduate of Juillard) enriched our knowledge of American culture and also expanded the spectrum of compositions performed at the festival to include more modern American and Western European music. So, for the first time in Russia some compositions by Milton Babbitt,Jacques Charpentier, Giselher Klebe and others were heard. The playbills of these festivals, which at first included only the names of performers from Bryansk, were progressively enriched by the participation of musicians from other cities, including students and teachers from the Voronez and Riga Conservatories and soloists from Tbilisi, Moscow, St. Petersburg , Petrosavodsk, Nizni and Novgorod, as well as the Mark Pekarski drum band (Moscow), the Association of Modern Music (of Moscow, conducted byJ.Kasparov) and the Moscow Trio (R. F. Bonduranski, V. Ivanov and M. Utkin). Many Roslavets compositions , such as the Chamber...