“Three months with Tchaikovsky”
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Tchaikovsky has been a bit of an important figure in my existence. As my father’s favorite composer, he was an ubiquitous, almost imposing figure in the household; a bust or two here and there, pictures of his dacha in Klin framed on a wall; little souvenir medallions with his face carved on them, all sprinkled around our house in Istanbul. Even our departed dog (a lovely little Dalmatian with one blue and one brown eye) was called ‘Çayko’; and when landlines still existed, the phone would ring with a tune from The Nutcracker’s “Russian Dance”. A last example to illustrate my point: a guest was even ‘expulsed’ from dinner for having uttered these blasphemous words: “Tchaikovsky was a bad composer !”.
I’m happy to say I didn’t diverge much from this path of love set for me. As Vladimir Horowitz once said: “Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t love Tchaikovsky’. I am inclined to agree. Honestly, if I don’t see your eyes glisten at the slow movement of the Fifth or during the entire Sixth Symphony, I would start looking for USB ports inside your nose ! Actually, no. I’m convinced even a robot would weep.
So,
I was obviously overjoyed to have had the luck to do 2 out of his 3 ballets in three months during the past season, from December to February.
The Nutcracker had come as a bit of a surprise; I had conducted my first opera (Can Atilla’s Göbeklitepe) in the Ankara State Opera and Ballet house, and it had went reasonably well. Happy with me, the Music Director proposed for me to conduct it. The first rehearsals were only a month or so away, but how could I have said no ? I was elated and attacked the score at once. After a first look, I was in awe to see how beautifully Tchaikovsky had captured the plot’s (based on E.T.A Hoffman’s short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King) childlike innocence in his score. I had always thought of him as more of an ‘abstract’ composer as opposed to a ‘program’ one (except for “Manfred”, I guess); it seems I was quite mistaken. How can you imagine anything else than a mysterious owl flying about in this passage ? (Timestamp: 4.05 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_Z1LUDQuQ)
How about this whole section, depicting a Christmas tree growing taller and taller into a monstrous entity ?
(Timestamp: 27.15 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_Z1LUDQuQ)
And this passage too, where we can literally ‘hear the feeling’ of a little boy’s excitement to get his Christmas presents in the woodwinds !
(Timestamp: 11.20 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_Z1LUDQuQ)
Quite a large portion of The Nutcracker consists of very famous and recognizable (even to non-musicians) music, such as the Russian Dance, or the Dance of the Sugar plum Fairy. The obvious difficulty with music that you’ve heard one too many times is to formulate your own interpretation of it by changing the ‘sound file’ of it in your mind’s ear; luckily (!), I quickly discovered that, in ballet, there is no ‘MY INTERPRETATION’ (at least a far as tempi are concerned).
With the grueling discovery that all the tempi of each piece were to be decided by the choreography, I was distraught. The beautiful Pas de Deux (a piece I had played as a pianist, arranged by Mikhail Pletnev) ! Almost twice as slow ! Hearing it played that way, even just in my head, gave me a feeling of pain that was almost physical; but I kept to myself and didn’t let anyone know. After thinking it through for some days, I had decided: what the ballet wants, the ballet gets. The problem, of course, in such a slow ‘incorrect’ tempo, is that the ebb and flow of the melodic lines (even a mere descending G Major scale in the celli becomes a melody composed by Tchaikovsky’s able hands !)
(Timestamp: 1.09.44 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_Z1LUDQuQ&t=4185s)
… are harder to ‘maintain’, resulting in more bow and breath usage which the composer didn’t intend for, which causes disturbances in the texture which in turn may cause balance problems etc. etc. Long story short, it’s really hard to shape a melody in an incorrect tempo (unless you get more sound volume by adding more instruments to the layer but even then it’s not a given), but, in the end, it all worked out; the orchestra of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet played it beautifully and convincingly.
Let’s make a parenthesis about operas, ballets and their tempi. Here are my few initial observations after my first year of conducting them; perhaps this could be of use to a beginning conductor who was where I was about 10 months ago !
First, something lovely: your inner pulse will develop to the point where you can identify infinitesimal differences in tempi with your ears. Before, you probably could notice the difference between 90 and 93 beats per minute, yes ? After some time, it will be between 90 and 91 bpm. Wheee !
As their musical training is naturally less than a conductor, ballet dancers will speak of tempi in a different language: the language of movement. ‘Movement’ is actually a term that is best translated to ‘harmony’ in music (not tempo, or pulse, or anything concerning quasi-objective time properties). ‘Faster’ doesn’t always mean ’faster’ or the opposite. Always take what the dancers are saying with a grain of salt and ask yourself: “Maybe what x wants is for the melody to flow more with less rubati / for the accompanying layer to be more precise and clear cut so that the dancer can better match his moves with the music / etc.
A final point: in the end, after having conducted three ballets and one opera this season, I am still unsure about my decision of ‘following the demands of the choreography or the stage director EXACTLY”. I mean no disrespect to choreographers or régisseurs, but let me make my point by speaking of an interesting occurrence during the 7 productions of my third ballet, Minkus’ Don Quixote later in the season. We shared these productions with my wonderful colleague in the Ankara State Opera House, Tolga Atalay Ün. While I tried to take exactly the tempi that the ballet instructed to me (writing them down from the recording they rehearse to), my colleague diverged in that respect and took faster tempi for some pieces which suited the music much better. In the end, the ballet was happy as well, as the dancers, inspired by the better flow of the music in the ‘correct’ tempi, ended up dancing better ! Of course, the tempi he took weren’t as different as day and night; but about 7-10 out of the 52 separate pieces that constituted this Don Quixote were notably faster than the ones I took. What does that tell you ? A pedantic conductor may just as well say: “the ballet doesn’t know what it wants and isn’t as sensitive to tempi fluctuations as a conductor is”; a self criticizing musician may think: “I didn’t take the right tempi” (but I did cross-check the recording of my performance with the recording the ballet worked on for months, and they were almost exact). I think the actual truth is that in stage music, the demands of the music should not be disregarded completely: the choreographers have their wants and needs, and the music (the conductor) also has its own. If each side believes in their personal vision and brings it to the table, a sort of ideal middle point is reached. In that respect, my colleague was right ! I won’t blindly follow the demands of the choreographers or stage directors with fanaticism anymore, and will seek to impose what the music demands. In this stage of my career, this is the conclusion I have come to about this subject. O ! More experienced Maestri ! Let me know what you think !
To finish on The Nutcracker (you may check out the entire performance ((one of the 7)) on my Youtube if you wish), I must say that it was a great pleasure to learn and conduct it. The ballet performed wonderfully, and the prima ballerina who danced the main role of Clara, Sultan Menteşe, was superlative; her eyes were twinkling with the wonder of a little girl transported into a realm of dreams…
Now on to Swan Lake. A completely different beast, I must say. Here we see Tchaikovsky adopting his dramatic emotional palette we best know him for, closer to the pathos of his Symphonies. We all know the story of immortal love between Prince Siegfried and the Swan Queen, Odette, and Odile, her evil impersonator. Here’s the rub: the original story ends normally ends with a ‘Romeo and Juliet-esque’ ending; it is in my opinion the correct one which the music points to. But since a revival from the Bolshoi Ballet in 1984, the story’s end has been changed into a happy ending where they embrace and supposedly live out their lives together forevermore. For me, love never does have a happy ending; death will come to separate in all cases (at least in this plane of existence. Afterwards, I’m inclined to think there is quite an embrace). But what can you do ! Most productions are now done with this ‘happy’ ending.
I don’t think there ever has been, in the history of music, a passage where one can physically hear the sound of a heart breaking such as this: (Timestamp: 1.37.00 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRZiBDuXRo)
Also, this theme, which for me is about the idea of freedom from the burden of impossible love:
(Timestamp: 1.43.30 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRZiBDuXRo)
And finally, the last utterance of the principal theme of the Ballet (first heard in the introduction with the oboe) and the culmination of the whole score: (Timestamp: 1.36.25 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUatYSm8ME)
“If it’s not you, it is NO ONE ELSE”
…
Well, enough with my hysterics.
Technically and in comparison, my impression was that Swan Lake is less difficult to conduct than The Nutcracker (the latter’s “Waltz of the Snowflakes” is quite difficult: the conductor is the sole provider of syncopations in every bar for almost the entirety of the Waltz) if both were concert pieces; but the former has many more dances and less narrative bits than the latter, which is why it is ultimately more difficult because the conductor has to be in a deeper symbiosis with the choreography (this consequently means at least 50 more tempo alterations, ritardandos and accelerandos that are not written in the score) !
A bit about non musical things: the trip was beautiful. I stayed in Moscow for my first and last days; taking an overnight train to go to the town of Saransk (about 400 km of Moscow). On the first day, I went to the Bolshoi Theatre to watch a production of Verdi’s La Traviata, which was wonderful. Right from the beginning (the piece has an entry of solo strings), I was delighted to hear the ‘Russian sound’ of string playing, very voluminous and with large vibrato. It was my first time in the Bolshoi and I must say it was the best acoustics I’ve ever heard except for the hall of the Berlin Staatskapelle.
Coming out of the theatre, I was greeted by a scene that looked better suited for a fairy tale rather than ‘real’ life: a clear night tickled by light snow, illuminated by beautiful little lights; tunes from The Nutcracker playing in the background.
I stayed in this beautiful place until it was simply too cold to continue to do so ! Then, I went to see Yener Gökbudak, an incredible pianist who is doing his doctorate in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. We spent a few years with the same piano teacher (Gülnara Aziz) during my days in Bilkent University and have kept contact since.
On my return stop in Moscow, I did something I had always dreamed of and went to see Tchaikovsky’s house in the nearby town of Klin. To stand two feet apart from the table where he sketched many of his most substantial works was a feeling hard to describe, so no need to attempt it. Here are some pictures though !
I should also mention how this concert came to be: during my conducting studies in the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris in 2018, I had made the acquaintance of Maksim Akulov, another member of my conducting class. The best of us, he was unrelenting in what he asked from the orchestra; I learned a lot from him about what it means to be demanding. The respect was mutual; after we both got our diplomas, we exchanged a warm handshake and said: ‘it was an honour’ (see ! All conductors don’t actually hate each other !). Three years later, I was quite surprised when he came to me with the proposition to conduct something in the Opera house where he was now Musical Director: the Saransk State Opera in Russia. I immediately agreed and said that it would be a dream to conduct Swan Lake in Tchaikovsky’s homeland ! What a wonderful musician and person he is ! I am indebted to him; his invitation has made me a far better conductor, and I can’t wait to invite him myself whenever I am able.
The opera house Maksim works in was wonderful. Saransk is quite small, yet look at the gift its inhabitants have !
Attending the ballet rehearsals to get a hold of the choreography, I was also quite impressed at the unity of movement of the corps de ballet. Like a group of olympic ice skaters, all ‘unison’ dances were in perfect synchronicity, something which I think is rare. Apart from the grand ballet tradition of the country they live in, I suspect the dancers also owed this to their amazing chief teachers: Yuri and Natalia Vyskubenko, both ex-dancers from the Bolshoi. After about 5 days, it was the day of the concert and I’m happy to say it went well. I didn’t have the necessary time to conduct without a score as I usually do (I had The Nutcracker, one Symphonic and one string orchestra concert to do simultaneously :( :), but the outcome was good; both the ballet and the public seemed very happy at the end. It was also the most passionate performance I have ever given so far, probably owing to the fact that it was the first time I truly conducted a piece that was very close to my heart. It’s a pity conductors can seldom choose programs at the beginning of their careers; it wasn’t that way at all when I was a pianist ! But sometimes, one learns more from pieces which are not second nature !
Here’s a link to the concert from the conductor’s camera (I’m not entirely happy with my technique, so I’ll also give you a shorter version with places I am reasonably happy with):
whole ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRZiBDuXRo
‘Excerpts’ version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX6bd48JMk&t=26s
So that’s it ! All in all, conducting these two ballets was a great experience. I’m pretty sure this has made me more equipped to tackle the master’s Symphonies, hopefully soon. I do love them.
