The world of Russian music of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century is much richer than not only music lovers, but even professionals can imagine. The archives, storages and private collections contain a huge number of unknown score rarities. The say that manuscripts do not burn, but score manuscripts can keep silence for a long time. The task of the project “Russian Composers’ Heritage Revival” is to make this long-forgotten music sound again and to show how rich and varied Russian musical heritage is.
Implementation of the project became possible thanks to cooperation with one of the largest companies in the area of energy PJSC “E.ON-Russia” which included work on reviving Russian musical heritage in the sphere of its social responsibility. We are finishing the first stage of the project devoted to Anton Arensky’s opera “Rafael”. After the score was restored and digitalized, the opera was recorded in the original author’s edition by the ensembles of radio “Orpheus” and some outstanding singers, the soloists of opera theaters. We also issued a CD and now are editing the documentary devoted to implementation of the project.
The opera will be performed on the stage of the Concert Hall Aleksadrovsky on 20 February. Some unique documents from Arensky’s archive kept in the P. I. Tchaikovsky House-Musium in Klin will be presented in the Concert Hall lobby. Tchaikovsky actively participated in Arensky’s creative work and did a lot to promote his music which he rated really highly, especially the operas.
