How the song was born - 10 March 2025, 15:32

People’s Artist of the USSR, winner of the State Prize of the USSR, holder of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” of the III and IV degrees, the Order of Honor, the Order of Friendship, winner of the independent award in the field of literature and art “Triumph”, professor, creator and permanent artistic director of the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir. More than 60 years of his life, the maestro gave service to choral music. With the creation of the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir, Vladimir Minin managed to realize his long-standing creative ideas and realize the dream of the choir as a unique ensemble of soloists and bright individuals. The maestro’s repertoire consists of works of large-scale Western European classics and innovative works by contemporary composers, interpretations of Russian folk music and songs by Soviet authors. Vladimir Minin and the Moscow Chamber Choir were among the first to present works of Russian sacred music, previously banned for performance, on the concert stage, and then made great efforts to popularize it both in their country and abroad. There are many words, but not all words are musical. There are phrases, words that are asked for music. These are, above all, poems. The task of choral art is the spiritual improvement of the personality, emotional and sincere conversation with the listener, joint soaring with him, and unity. And its main function is the purification of the soul, a kind of aesthetic catharsis. Performed works should make a person think about why and how he lives. We didn’t want to “surprise” the listener with just the beautiful sound of voices, we wanted to conquer his soul. For me, the choir is not a neatly trimmed lawn, not a faceless ensemble, but a creative collective of individuals, an ensemble of soloists. The voice of the choir should be the voice of the spiritual essence of the people, the identification of its spiritual ideals. The choir is an enlightener of souls and a preacher, a protector from supostate and a pronunciation of victory, a herald of good deeds and a comforter of sorrow, a dreamer, and an inspirer, a peacemaker, and a uniter. In short, the choir is WE. Today, we are overwhelmed by such a flow of information that it is extremely difficult to get to a person. The only way is to get emotional. One of the clergymen famously said: If you think that the Psalm is better to tell a person in words, then you are deeply mistaken. The best thing is to sing emotionally. And then it will have a much greater impact on the soul of a person, on his emotional sphere. Of course you can say, but it is better to sing. In ancient books there is an expression “red singing”, that is, beautiful singing. In order not to lose influence on the listener, singing had to have such a property as the colorfulness of the tone and sound. For me, professional work begins with the music of words, speech – its sound, its intonation.