http://fancymusic.ru/anton-batagov-i-fear-no-more-selected-songs-and-meditations-of-john-donne/

The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia

Vladimir Jurowski: conductor
Alexander Korenkov: vocals
Asya Sorshneva: violin
Anton Batagov: piano
Sergei Kalachev “Grebstel”: bass guitar
Vladimir Zharko: drums

When Vladimir Jurowski suggested that I write something for the State Symphony, the idea of a vocal cycle to the poerty of John Donne emerged immediately, in the course of our conversation, as if John Donne himself came to us and said:
- Gentlemen. I have wanted to talk about something for a long time. I think it’s time to do it now.

We gladly agreed.

John Donne (1572 – 1631), English poet, priest, mystic, philosopher, alchemist. A man who had no fear of death because he knew that it was not the end but a long-awaited moment of renewal and cure, a moment when you are being “translated into a better language” like a chapter from a book – a language much more beautiful and perfect – to become part of a global library “where every book shall lie open to one another”. A man who used the word “meditations” for his sermons. A man who uncompromisingly rejected everything that did not lead to the ultimate truth. A man who knew what true love was. Love that cannot be stopped by death. And he knew the difference between that love and an illusion people usually mistake for love. The one who has that knowledge sees no border between He and She, between You and I, between heaven and earth. One who has that knowledge is aware that parting does not imply loss. One who has experienced such love gives no more way to grief. One who has experienced such love fears no more.

Anton Batagov, edited by Cazimir Liske

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Anton Batagov: I Fear No More. Selected Songs and Meditations of John Donne - "The Message"

Art has a feature of avoiding straightforward statements. 

More precisely, those thoughts originality of which requires an artistic language are rarely simple or straightforward. In this case, a musical statement becomes a metaphorical one. 

But what features - linguistic and stylistic - are inherent to this kind of statement? And what tasks as a result appear before the performer, the interpreter? 

Sometimes we expect a metaphor to be something complex, deliberately ambiguous, but if by the statement we gain new ways of understanding, a metaphor survives. It becomes obvious and natural like a long-time proven assertion in mathematics, which over time has become a well-known theorem... 

But then a new layer of metaphors appear. It comes naturally as a new coil of what was proven in the previous turn… Maybe there again is a choice appearing in front of the artist? What should the artist do, take part in the pursuit of the evolution of the metaphorical language, or hide, using seemingly familiar tools and forming a completely new context? 

The author, obviously, selects the second. 

Of course, this makes his music defenseless and extremely vulnerable to the performance. The slightest inaccuracy of the interpretation could trigger a completely different association and a metaphorical statement will be destroyed... 

I hope that we were able to uncover the author's intention in his modern sound where archaisms, modern expression and avant-garde ideas give birth to a new dramaturgy. 

Ilya Hoffman
__

Polina Osetinskaya: piano

Composed by: Sergey Akhunov 

Recorded by: Alexei Barashkin 
Recorded at: The D. D. Shostakovich Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia, Large Hall, 31 May – 4 June, 2016 
Edited by: Alexei Barashkin 
Mixed, mastered by: Alexander Mikhlin 
Cover photo by: Anna Zyabreva

Sketches

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Sergey Akhunov - Sketch VII (Performed by Polina Osetinskaya)

Тамара Зарицкая - вокал;
Виолетта Ремизова - флейта;
Виктор Самохвалов - рояль;
Станислав Поспелов - гитара;
Игорь Мозгалев - бас;
Пётр Талалай - барабаны;

Станислав Поспелов - стихи;
Чик Кория - музыка;
Юлия Ованесян - дизайн, офорт;
Игорь Смирнов - звук.

Арт-группа "Дальний свет" - Рыба тебя любит

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Anton Batagov: I Fear No More. Selected Songs and Meditations of John Donne - "The Message"

FANCYMUSIC

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