22 April 2015

Vladislav Chernushenko (b. 1936) was principal conductor of the St Petersburg State Academic Capella from 1974.

[Extract translated from the Russian]

Once, in the lobby of the Leningrad Conservatory [in 1963], as a student of the opera- and symphony-conducting department, I met Professor Elizaveta Kudryavtseva [1914–2004], who had known me since I was a student of the choir school of the Leningrad State Capella. She had kept a close eye on my progress in the choir-conducting department and was well aware of my successful work as a conductor of the Choir Capella in Magnitogorsk. So she stopped me and, holding me by the hand, said authoritatively, ‘We are preparing The War Requiem by Benjamin Britten. You're going to be my assistant in charge of the choir.’ That would be my first experience of Britten's music; he was almost unknown to us.

It should be noted that this performance was a joint effort by students from every department of the Conservatory. The orchestra department provided one symphony and one chamber orchestra; the choir, apart from the core of choir conductors and singers, also included pianists, composers, music theorists and even a few orchestral musicians. Some of the choir singers were vocal-department students who later became internationally renowned soloists in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres. Among them were Elena Obraztsova, Evgeniĭ Nesterenko, Irina Bogachyova, Vladimir Atlantov and many others. Unfortunately I did not talk to Benjamin Britten personally but only saw him.

The work provoked a huge interest across the music community. As a result I decided to learn more about the composer's works. Subsequently, and after the visit of the English Opera Group to the Maly Opera House and the production of Peter Grimes at the Mariinsky Theatre, Benjamin Britten rightfully became considered in our country as one of the world's prominent composers. I believe there was no orchestra in the whole of Russia that did not perform his Simple Symphony. Certainly, when I was able to obtain some of his choral works, I was eager to get them performed.