Gidon Kremer: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Among the many violinists that the Soviet musical school gave to world culture, Kremer occupies a special place. Talent, multiplied by a huge ability to work, plus a clear social position - all these qualities have won him great prestige throughout the world. The main thing that distinguishes Gidon Kremer from the very beginning of his performing activity is the desire for semantic richness, for the discovery of new facets of spirituality.

This is expressed in the selection for performance of works by composers who were looking for new forms - unusual and original. At the same time, in the performance of violin classics, he is a virtuoso in the highest sense of the word.

Fourth generation violinist

He first picked up an instrument when he was four and a half years old. Gidon Kremer often says that his fate was sealed before he was born. Everyone in the family was a violinist, and the ability to play music was passed on at the genetic level. When a son appeared in Riga in February 1947 in the family of Marianna Karlovna and Markus Filippovich Kremer, the choice of a career as a musician seemed natural for him.

Maternal grandfather - Karl Brückner - was famous in Europeviolinist and musicologist, and in Riga - a professor at the conservatory. He was also born in a family of musicians, in Germany, and when the Nazis came to power, he was forced to emigrate first to Estonia, then to Latvia. Perhaps, in the fate of both the exiled grandfather and the father, whose family consisted of more than 30 people - victims of the Holocaust, one can see the origins of Gidon's political beliefs, who always protested against state violence against an individual, against aggressive national politics at any level.

School of Excellence

Gidon Kremer always considered his father his first teacher. From him, he took the basic concept that success can only be achieved through hard work. According to Markus Filippovich, the technique of playing the violin must be mastered by the age of 16, otherwise it will be too late. Therefore, daily many hours of classes have become familiar to the famous musician from early childhood. He began receiving a methodical musical education by studying at the Riga Music School. Emil Darzin.

In 1965 he moved to the capital of the USSR and entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he became a student of the brilliant violinist David Oistrakh. From the very beginning of his studies, the young student chooses to perform the most technically complex pieces, and by the time he graduated from the conservatory, he has earned the fame of a real virtuoso, who is characterized by a special musicality and a depth of understanding of both classical masterpieces and new trends in violin art.

First confession

In the year of graduationclass of the great Oistrakh, in 1969, Gidon Kremer participates in the violin competition in Genoa. The program of the competition includes, among other things, the performance of the caprices of Paganini, whose name this famous competition bears. The young Soviet violinist won the first prize. In the same year, he won the second prize in the traditional competition of performers held in Montreal, missing Vladimir Spivakov in first place.

The most important stage in the development of the musician's career was the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1970 Gidon Kremer won the first prize among violinists. Photos of the young artist were published by all the leading music publications in the world. A magnificent victory in it made the name of the young violinist truly popular. Kremer's active concert activity began with him on stage venues all over the planet.

Emigrant

He never considered himself an open dissident, and in his speeches one can still feel indifferent to the culture of the country that collapsed in the early 1990s, and the one that became the heir of the Soviet Union. But he never sought to fit into the official Soviet life, which was regulated by the instructions of officials and ideological bodies. Among the music that he chose to perform, there are many that were not recommended by the leadership, many works by those who belonged to the disgraced Soviet and reactionary Western composers.

He was friends with Alfred Schnittke, was the first performer of his music. He played Sofia Gubaidullina, Edison Denisov,Giya Kancheli - composers whose work did not fit in form and content into the framework of ideologically correct art. The violinist, who was a laureate of numerous international competitions, was not awarded any official titles in his homeland.

In 1980, Gidon Kremer was among those who left the USSR and whose name was banned in the country. The biography of the violinist has since been associated with Germany. The first concert in the homeland after the break took place only ten years later.

Priorities

He refers to musicians who regard entertainment and relaxation as the most insignificant function of their art. Considering the public incapable of perceiving music that is different from the hyped and time-tested samples, he considers offensive to her. Because of this, Kremer often clashes with those record companies and concert organizers who do not want to risk the attention of the public by offering unusual and experimental works, music that requires a certain mental and spiritual effort.

The violin classics remain for him the main material for concert activity. Music lovers appreciate his unique reading of works classified as popular. At the same time, Gidon Kremer speaks of Schnittke, Gubaidullina, Astor Piazzolla, Philip Glass as musical peaks no less significant than Bach, Beethoven or Tchaikovsky. Leading listeners on their way to them is a task worthy of any serious performer.

Guadalini, Stradivari, Guarneri,Amati

The famous virtuoso Kremer once said that he did not feel dependent on the instrument, that he had experience playing modern violins. At the same time, he emphasizes the special connection between the musician and his instrument, which is sometimes mystical. The harmony of these relationships allows you to achieve real magic, says Kremer. Gidon Markusovich notes that he was lucky to play outstanding samples performed by real geniuses.

The violin, made by Giovanni Battista Guadalini, was inherited from his grandfather, Karl Brückner. She helped him win the Tchaikovsky Competition. In his life there were Stradivari and Guarneri violins, which he gave to the musicians of the famous chamber orchestra “Kremerata B altica” created by him. Today he plays an even older instrument, created in 1641 by Nicolò Amati.

On the move

He is in constant flight. Numerous solo concerts, performances with young B altic musicians gathered in "Kremerata B altika" are accompanied by constant success. He invented and organized the chamber music festival in the Austrian Lokenhaus, which has existed for more than three decades. Kremer has published several books of autobiographical prose, he actively responds to the most important events, including those that took place in Russia.

“To this day I am learning to… live!” - so wrote Gidon Kremer in one of the articles. The personal life of the musician also seems to be quite harmonious. Daughters - Anastasia and popular inRussian actress and TV presenter Lika Kremer, - according to him, continue to please his father until now. The musician plans to move to a permanent place of residence in his historical homeland, without slowing down the pace of active creative activity.