Interview with Sergey Markov

By Sylvia Wiederkehr

Quatrième Mur

November 5, 2023

Quatrième Mur: What was the motivation behind the foundation of the RIO? Why Rachmaninoff in particular?

Sergey Markov: Well the two questions are linked. Rachmaninoff is a composer who means a lot to maestro Pletnev. Like Rachmaninoff, Pletnev is a wonderful pianist but also a wonderful conductor and composer. His musicianship is very well expressed, the musicians love him because he opens new horizons to them, new angles and findings in music. And for more than 30 years, he had an orchestra in Russia of which I was also co-founder, called the Russian National Orchestra. It was quite famous and received much recognition such as the Diapason d'Or and the Grammy award. It was really the best Russian orchestra, and it was independent. It was the only independent orchestra not to be subsidized by the government. Then the situation started changing and not in a good direction. The Russian government decided they wanted the orchestra and they nationalized it. Pletnev doesn't go to Russia anymore, lives in Switzerland in Morges. The orchestra misses him, he misses the orchestra. So first we thought "let's make a reincarnation of the Russian National Orchestra", because there are so many Russian musicians outside Russia. Some emigrated long ago, but many relocated recently because they don't like what's going on in the country. So we thought, "we will take the core group from Russia, and add others from Europe, because today everything Is more international. And we definitely keep the doors open for Ukrainians, because at a time when there's so much evil, so much suffering, so much violence and ugliness in the world, all that the musicians can do is deliver more harmony and beauty through music.

That was the initial idea, but it couldn't be implemented so simply because unfortunately the Russian ministry of culture didn't want to allow many musicians of the Russian National Orchestra to take part in the concerts of the new orchestra. Also it was difficult for the Ukrainian musicians because of the situation in their country. Some people there feel that "if you accept to play with Russians then you are a traitor." So we ended up only having a handful of Russian musicians, a handful of Ukrainians, and mostly European, but there are a lot of Russian speakers in the orchestra, who are living here for 20-30 years. So it still has a Russian background but not as we imagined. We keep the door open and help our friends who are relocating.

It is very symbolic that we are premiering this orchestra the year of the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff. Because of the story of Rachmaninoff's life. He also had to leave Russia because of the political forces at play, at that time, 100 years ago. And he could never return. But he remains a very "Russian" composer, even though he composed a lot of good music after emigrating. We believe that Pletnev can perform this music as it was meant to be performed, as Rachmaninoff himself played it. Pletnev lives in the shoes of Rachmaninoff and he will play tonight like we believe it should be played. Fortunately in music, there is no standard, no right or wrong. We offer just another way of reading.

QM: What is important for Pletnev and the RIO? What are the cardinal points? I believe you already said "deliver more harmony, beauty and music.”

SM: The foundational philosophy of the orchestra is "how can we respond to this crisis?" So we are musicians, we want to do something. And definitely, the world needs more love, more positive things, more good, more harmony and this is how we try to bring it to whoever is willing to listen.

That's one thing, but there is one more: In the world, there are lots of professional orchestras, they have an excellent sound, they follow the conductor professionally, they understand instantly. Well, this orchestra (RIO) comes together with a certain tension because of this, some tension because there are Russians, others are Ukrainians, and some other guys are killing each other not so far from here... there is tension. And this tension is overcome in music. There is more sense of drama in this orchestra. Because when you meet, there is tension, and then you start playing and the tension goes away and is replaced with something positive. These are the moments of creation: God created the world from chaos, like beauty is created from ugliness, because there is nothing else to be created from. In this case, it is kind of more you can witness the birth of music out of noise, than when you just follow a very good professional orchestra. That's my own idea, not everybody will agree with it. Well you will hear and decide for yourself! I believe that in terms of musicianship, in terms of emotion, this orchestra can give more than the orchestras that have played for a long time. Even if they are wonderful orchestras, there is not the sense of drama...

So these two things are what characterize this orchestra.

QM: You play tonight (30th October) and tomorrow (31st October) two different programs. With piano concertos tomorrow, today the 3rd piano concerto will follow an orchestral and vocal program from Gordon Getty.

 SM : Rachmaninoff lived the second half of his life in America. So for us, to include music by a contemporary living American composer was a way of offering to the audience a chance to look at contemporary American music. That's one thing.

Second thing, it is not every time you have the possibility of having a composer in the audience who can tell the conductor how he wants his music to sound. This was an opportunity for us. Besides, Gordon Getty is a longtime friend of the Russian National Orchestra, and because of our conception of the RIO as reincarnation of the RNO, he followed it very closely, and we invited him. He said "Sure, I will come for this". So that's why.

The music we selected are two vocal pieces and an overture from the opera Plump Jack. We asked Gordon Getty "we have a long program with the piano concertos, so what could you give us for 20-30 minutes of your music?" and he said "check this". The conductor said it was a super idea. So it was their decision.

QM: Pletnev will play here, but not conduct here. As he is also a conductor, what about the choice to only play and not also conduct another music piece?

Because Rachmaninoff is a pianist composer and it is his anniversary year. There will be occasions where Pletnev will conduct. A recording will be coming out in the second quarter of next year in which he conducts the RIO. It was recorded a few months ago. We wanted the first releases to be synchronically where Pletnev is conducting and where he is playing as soloist, and both recordings will come out in the second quarter of next year.