Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev was born on April 14, 1957 in Arkhangelsk into a family of musicians. His father Vasily Pavlovich Pletnev was a graduate of the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute, played as an accompanist at the conservatory, his mother Olga Dmitrievna was a pianist.
Pletnev spent his childhood in Saratov and Kazan, and at the age of 7 he began attending music school at the Kazan Conservatory to study piano. From the age of 13 he studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In 1973, 16-year-old Pletnev won the Grand Prix at the International Youth Competition in Paris and the following year he entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying under professors Yakov Flier and Lev Vlasenko.
In 1977, Pletnev won first prize at the All-Union Piano Competition in Leningrad, and in 1978 he won a gold medal and first prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 1979, Pletnev graduated from the conservatory, and in 1981, he graduated from graduate school, after which he became Vlasenko’s assistant, and subsequently began teaching in his own piano class.
Having become a soloist of the State Concert in 1981, Pletnev gained fame as a virtuoso pianist; the press noted his interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s work, but also his performances of Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninov and other composers. Pletnev has collaborated with such famous conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alexander Vedernikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Valery Gergiev, Rudolf Barshai and the most famous symphony orchestras in the world, including the London Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In 1980, Pletnev made his debut as a conductor, and ten years later, in 1990, with the help of foreign donations, he created the independent Russian National Symphony Orchestra (later renamed the Russian National Orchestra, RNO) and until 1999 was its artistic director, chief conductor and president fund. In 1999, he left it to engage in independent creative activities and tours, but in 2003 he returned to managing the RNO. In 2008, Pletnev became a guest conductor at the Symphony Orchestra of Italian Switzerland (Orchestra della Svizzera italiana).
In 2006, Pletnev created the National Culture Support Fund. From 2006 to 2010, Pletnev was a member of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Culture and Art, and from 2007 to 2009 he was a member of the Russian Federation Commission for UNESCO.
Since 1996, Pletnev lived in Switzerland, but spent a lot of time, sometimes half a year, in Thailand, where he had two houses in Pattaya. Also in Thailand, the conductor founded the Music House Company, which specialized in teaching music and playing the piano (he himself did not teach music). He also owned a badminton club and a restaurant, the Euro Club and Restaurant. However, Pletnev’s conducting debut in Thailand with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra took place only in 2004.
In 1989, Pletnev became People's Artist of the RSFSR. In 1997, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV, and in 2007, III degree. He was also twice awarded state prizes of the USSR and Russia, in 1996 and 2006 he was awarded the prestigious Gramophone Award, and Pletnev was awarded the Grammy Award for 2004.
Best of the day
On July 4, 2010, in Pattaya, the Thai police, in the house where the Music Home Company classes were held, arrested Traiphop Bunphasong, who, by agreement with Pletnev, was looking after this premises. According to investigators, Bunphasong was one of the organizers of a child prostitution network in Thailand, supplying boys to brothels whose clients were foreigners. Child pornography materials were confiscated from Bunphasong. In addition, Boonphasong stated that one of his clients was Pletnev. On July 5, 2010, Pletnev was detained by the Thai police, a search was carried out in his house in the presence of the conductor, but as a result nothing incriminating was found. The conductor was not arrested; he was released on bail of 9 thousand dollars without confiscation of his Russian passport.
On July 7, 2010, Pletnev was officially charged with molesting a minor boy, however, according to investigators, these charges were not related to an underground pornography distribution network, but to a statement by the guardians of a 14-year-old Thai schoolboy. If convicted, Pletnev could face up to 20 years in prison. Despite this, on July 7, the court allowed Pletnev to leave the country to continue his touring activities, with the condition that he pay an additional bail of 9 thousand dollars and arrive in Thailand in 12 days to report to the court. Pletnev took advantage of the court's permission and left Thailand on the same day. After this, the court repeatedly released Pletnev on bail with the same conditions. It was reported that, according to normal practice, foreigners could be released on bail up to six times before a court decision.
On July 21, 2010, Thai authorities announced that Pletnev’s visa had been revoked because his behavior was “harmful to Thailand,” but a few days later the embassy announced that the conductor’s long-term visa continued to be valid.
The RNO called the accusations against Pletnev “nonsense”; the conductor himself categorically rejected the accusations against him, although he did not deny his close friendship with Bunphasong: according to him, he knew him only as an artist. The scandal also affected the professional activities of the director: the Symphony Orchestra of Italian Switzerland decided to suspend relations with him. At the same time, the press noted that this was not the first time Pletnev was suspected of molesting minors: he had previously been accused of molesting a boy in Japan, but then due to the lack of solid evidence, the case was closed. Pletnev was also named as one of the buyers of child pornography in Russia in the Novokuibyshev “Blue Orchid” case.
On December 3, 2010, it became known that Pletnev’s case was closed. All restrictions previously imposed on the musician’s movements by the Thai authorities were also lifted.
Information about Pletnev’s personal life was practically not published in the press. According to his close friend, violist Yuri Bashmet, he did not have a wife or children. Pletnev speaks English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Thai. He enjoys skiing, diving, theater and philosophy.
Mikhail Pletnev was accused in Thailand of raping a 14-year-old teenager and creating child pornography
Original of this materialNEWSRu.com, 07/07/2010, Mikhail Pletnev was charged with raping a 14-year-old teenager, Photo: Kommersant, Pattaya Daily News
A Thai court on Wednesday charged the famous Russian pianist and conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev, with raping a teenager and released him on bail of 300,000 baht ($9,000), RIA Novosti reported, citing AP.
According to local police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kritha Tankanarat, the charges against the famous musician include rape of a 14-year-old teenager. In addition, the Russian was accused of involvement in the creation of child pornography: the police discovered compromising photographs in which Pletnev was depicted with minors.
Meanwhile, the investigator leading Pletnev’s case, Omsin Sukkankha, told the agency that the investigation did not find any connection between Pletnev and the underground network for distributing child pornography. […]
Here's one of the new ones. The so-called high-profile case of VIVID CONTENT LTD. UK. or Money for Little Ones!
03/01/2011 On the official website of the police of Strasclyde, Great Britain, apparently due to the negligence of the administrator, the following documents were presented to the public, namely the correspondence of a Ukrainian citizen, a certain Svetlana Khilyuk, with the English prosecutor’s office and police in the case of gang rape and forced filming of pornographic films. Who would have thought that the girls were met in England not by representatives of VIVID CONTENT, but by citizens Taras Kuzio (a well-known columnist in Ukraine and the world) and Mikhail Pletnev, in the statement they appear as the main suspects in rape. Based on the documents below, FBI agents, who have been investigating the VIVID CONTENT case since 2008 on suspicion of distributing child porn, traced an anonymous spam mailing with offers to appear in “movies” to the headquarters of Taras Kuzio at George Washington University, and 5 arrest warrants were simultaneously issued Kuzio's accomplices in the USA, Canada and Ukraine, the Strasklyde case was supposed to put an end to the accusations of pedophiles, but victims Khilyuk and Gordienko, for an unknown reason, asked the police to suspend the investigation. According to the FBI, witnesses received threatening and intimidating calls and emails. The position of the prosecutor's office of the British Themis also remains unclear, while Messrs. Kuzio and Pletnev continue to make money and satisfy their base needs in this way!
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that it would provide Mikhail Pletnev with all the necessary legal assistance. According to the Russian consul in Bangkok Andrei Dvornikov, Pletnev intends to visit the court, accompanied by his Thai lawyer, in order to clarify what claims are being made against him by the Thai authorities, and to try to obtain permission, at least temporary, to leave the country to participate in his concert tour.
“The accusations were made by the police. In principle, they are well known - this is a possible involvement in the corruption of minors. But Mikhail Pletnev denies all these accusations,” the consul said.
He also stated that the information released on the Pattaya Daily News website and picked up by the media that videos of child pornography were found in Pletnev’s Thai house during a search turned out to be unverified. In fact, according to the Russian diplomat, nothing reprehensible was found in the Russian musician’s house.
[Search in the house of Mikhail Pletnev in Pattaya - K.ru insert]
The director of the Russian National Orchestra, led by Pletnev, Oleg Poltevsky, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, said that Mikhail Pletnev actually has real estate in Thailand, including a sports club for playing badminton and houses. One of these houses was rented from him by a Thai citizen, who was detained on charges of organizing child crime. As the owner of the house, Mikhail Pletnev had to give an explanation to the police.
“Representatives of law enforcement detained him in his own sports club, where he was negotiating with a representative of the Bangkok orchestra. Pletnev was surprised and asked what case the police came to him about. He was told that a man living in a house owned by Pletnev was detained on charges in the organization of child crime. A search was carried out in Pletnev's house, but nothing was found. It remains a mystery what story and why the media are inflating this. After all, it was not Pletnev who was arrested, but a citizen of Thailand, charges were not brought against Pletnev, but a citizen of Thailand, during the search, nothing was found "Pletnev has not been found. Formal issues must be resolved on Wednesday so that Mikhail Pletnev can leave Thailand and begin a large tour with the Russian National Orchestra in Macedonia, America and Scotland on July 9," Poltevsky said.
Viktor Kriventsov, Deputy Honorary Consul of Russia in Pattaya, explained to the newspaper that the police did not bring any charges against Pletnev. He added that the bail that was required from him is a common practice regarding foreign citizens.
Let us remind you that the day before it became known that the police of the Thai resort of Pattaya arrested a Russian man who is suspected of raping children and having connections with other pedophiles. By occupation, the detainee is a musician and gives piano lessons, the first reports on this topic said. In them, the suspect was identified as the musician “Mikhail”, then “Mikhail Tlener”. Only later, clarifying materials on this topic made it clear that we were talking about a world-famous person: 53-year-old musician Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Culture and Art.
According to Thai journalists, the honored cultural figure was detained at the Euro Club and Restaurant, of which he is a co-owner. And during a search of Pletnev’s home, several hundred files with photographs and videos containing child pornography and scenes of sexual abuse of teenagers were found on the hard drive of his personal computer.
According to police, Pletnev lived in Thailand for several years. Moreover, the Russian is not the first foreigner to come under suspicion in connection with crimes based on pedophilia. In 2008, local police managed to arrest four foreigners at once, who were accused of sexual violence against teenagers and involving them in prostitution. The long-term visitors were captured in Pattaya in a joint operation between Thai police and a British charity.
According to Pletnev, investigators came out after the arrest of 40-year-old Traifop Boonfazong. After questioning the attacker, the police came to the musician the next day.
Investigators from the Center for the Protection of the Rights of Women and Minors, as well as employees of the Children's Center for Protection and Development took part in the arrest operation.
Note that in Thailand the law is quite harsh towards pedophiles: for violence against children aged 13 to 15 years, a prison sentence of 7 to 20 years is provided. If the child with whom the offender had sexual relations is under 13 years of age, then life imprisonment follows.
Not long ago, 61-year-old American pedophile Nelson Corliss was sentenced. He traveled to Thailand three times between 2000 and 2002, where he had sex with at least two boys, aged nine and six. The pervert was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison, and the people who organized his “sex tour” will have to spend six and a half years behind bars.
Alexey Ashikhmin, Daria Cherkudinova
As Marker was told by the Russian National Orchestra (Svetlana Chaplygina, press secretary of the Russian National Orchestra), despite the Thai police's claims against Mikhail Pletnev, the musical group is not going to change its touring plans. […]
According to the current schedule, the orchestra's first performance under the direction of the chief conductor is scheduled for mid-August. This means that Pletnev has a month to resolve the conflict with the Thai authorities, otherwise his team will still be forced to make adjustments to the performance program. In particular, the Big RNO Festival (scheduled for September 6-12) in Moscow may be in question. In Russia, the orchestra receives 500-600 thousand rubles for one concert (according to published government contracts), fees for numerous foreign performances can be even higher. In general, the team’s annual budget exceeds 75 million rubles.
The main sponsors of the orchestra are the state and the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation
According to the ensemble's press secretary Svetlana Chaplygina, this year, as before, many of the orchestra's projects, including the September festival, are financed by the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation. The billionaire has been supporting Mikhail Pletnev since 2007, annually allocating (according to the fund’s annual reports) 12.5 million rubles. The orchestra’s own revenue (according to SPARK) is about 10 million rubles.The only sponsor whose favor Pletnev has been unsuccessfully seeking for many years is the president. The Russian National Orchestra stubbornly refuses to be included in the list of recipients of its grants, which the conductor has spoken about more than once with annoyance in his interviews. “We really didn’t receive a presidential grant this year, but we received a government grant, which is noticeably smaller,” said Chaplygina. According to government decree (No. 720 dated November 27, 2006), in 2010-2012. The orchestra will receive 50 million rubles from the budget. annually. The President allocated seven teams for 2009-2011. RUB 1.2 billion in year.
Pletnev is a skilled lobbyist
Pletnev founded the Russian National Orchestra in 1990. Subsequently, a foundation of the same name was created to support the orchestra (Thus, the orchestra was one of the first examples of private initiative in music). Despite statements about his financial independence, Pletnev repeatedly made attempts to achieve state support: the fund’s revenue of several million rubles hardly satisfied him.Serious conflicts arose in the orchestra twice over presidential grants, during which Pletnev refused to lead the orchestra. The last time this happened was in 2005. The revenue of the RNO fund then fell seven times. After his return, Pletnev created a new foundation (On the website of the Russian National Orchestra it is called “an organization whose purpose, along with providing for Pletnev’s main brainchild - the Russian National Orchestra, is to organize and support other cultural projects of the highest level”) - already named after him. This is where Prokhorov's sponsorship payments go. At the same time, the revenue of the RNO fund also increased.
So the accusations of the Thai police came very inappropriately. Pletnev, who has just achieved the support of the state and big business, may lose everything due to a damaged reputation. Original of this material
Pattaya Daily News, Thailand, 07/07/2010
Pletnev clarifies: he is not a pedophile
Leonid Borisov[…] Mikhail Pletnev behaved worthy of a man of his level. Quite unexpectedly, there was an answer to the correspondent’s question about whether he considers the actions of the Thai police towards himself a gross invasion of his personal life, whether he is outraged by anything in their actions, whether he sees any injustice? Pletnev said simply: “The Thai police are acting absolutely correctly, this is their job, there were signals - they are checking.”
Mikhail Pletnev said that he first came to Thailand about thirteen years ago. I fell in love with this country and began to settle down, although the strict schedule of touring around the world, of course, did not make it possible to live in Thailand for a long time. I bought one house here, then a second. The houses are located in different areas of Pattaya. Not far from one of them, a sports club for playing badminton with a swimming pool was built, accessible to local residents and their children. True, information about the music school he created, where he allegedly gave piano lessons, turned out to be, to put it mildly, exaggerated. The maestro had no time left for teaching. Now he is too in demand in the world to live quietly in the Pattaya “wilderness” and teach children. The Music House Company turned out to be just the company to which his real estate was registered.
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| Traihop Bunphasong
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On July 5, while Pletnev was in a cafe on the territory of his badminton club, the police arrived and, presenting a search warrant, asked him to accompany them to his house. According to Pletnev, the search was carried out not in the house next to the sports club, the keys to which he trusted to his Thai friend, but in a more habitable house in another area of the city, where the conversation with the PDN correspondent took place. Pletnev claims that during the search no incriminating evidence was found on him, and the operatives did not even look into the computer, although he himself suggested that they do so. He doesn’t know where the information about hundreds of pornographic files came from, but he doesn’t deny that they could have been found earlier in Triphop’s possession and then attributed to him. He does not admit to charges of pedophilia. The correspondent asked to see a photo of him with a Thai “boy”, which appeared in a video posted on the Internet. Upon closer examination, it turned out that a handsome young man of Asian appearance was clearly out of childhood, and the photograph, it seems, was not taken in Thailand, since both were dressed more like winter clothes. Pletnev said that in the photograph there is really a Thai man whom he met once in Thailand, he is 25 years old in the picture and it was taken in Switzerland. […]
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On his anniversary, he ended up not in Russia, but in Latin America, in Colombia, where a Russian music festival is taking place these days. On the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Bogota, Mikhail Pletnev performs with the RNO two programs from works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Taneyev, Glazunov. And such a “non-anniversary” at the end of the world is very much in the spirit of Pletnev, paradoxical, independent, walking like a planet in its orbit and not fitting into any established formats.
He knows how to amaze with his unpredictability and even radicalism, which turns into an impeccable internal logic of his actions. Ten years ago, he, a world-famous pianist, abandoned his solo career and did not approach the instrument for six years, only to then return to the stage with a new, more subjective view of musical interpretation, and 27 years ago, during the chaos of perestroika, he unexpectedly created The orchestra is a Russian national orchestra, one of the units of Russian orchestras included in the world orchestral elite. In the musical world, Pletnev’s charisma is appreciated, his individuality is valued, his ability to combine novelty and fundamentality, impersonal classicism and romantic subjectivism in his art. They value his ability to discover meanings in the most famous music that no one has approached, to nobly revive half-forgotten works, to amaze with clarity in the most complex musical textures, as if enlightening the music itself. He is also valued for the fact that he makes it possible to feel the core of genuine art, passed not through the market parameters of a well-established repertoire and flashy virtuosity, but through a balanced thought, carried out by him. That is why his concerts are a separate event not only in musical life, they are a special experience of the spiritual experience of something genuine, unchangeable, eternal, something that symbolizes a temple in human culture. His colleague and friend, concertmaster of the Russian National Orchestra and poet Alexey Bruni, talks about how Mikhail Pletnev appeared in the musical world, his personality and musical phenomenon:
Pletnev has a reputation as a closed person, almost a misanthrope. And you have been friends with him all your life, almost since childhood. Is it difficult to be his friend?
Alexey Bruni: Now everyone will praise him, but I can scold him. In any case, it will be unusual for him, because he is already tired of compliments during his creative life. Like any great talent, he is a very complex person, with some complex traits of his own, sometimes he can be difficult, sometimes unbearable. But friendship is friendship - something has to be forgiven, something has to be forgotten. But some things you just have to accept. I really appreciate his talent - amazing, rare. But he has not just talent, but the desire to realize this talent, and in different musical fields. Just look at his discography: how much he has recorded, and at what the highest level! Sometimes this was done in such a way that it boggles the mind: for example, he recorded a double disc of Scarlatti sonatas in one 5-hour shift, with almost no takes, 31 sonatas! And such talent manifests itself in everything he does.
Do you remember your first meeting with him?
Alexey Bruni: Certainly. He was 13 years old when he showed up at the Central Music School: a thin, very reserved teenager with unusually attentive eyes. He did not impose himself on anyone, did not curry favor with anyone. He and I immediately developed some kind of mutual interest, and our friendship has continued since then. He was always primarily interested in the field of music in its broadest sense - different eras, composers, genres, movements. He could not stand only what had to do with amateurism: pop music, for example. He even treated my passion for the Beatles with irony. But when he was interested in something, it was of a global nature. Already in those years, he read very well from sight, was fluent in the notes and played everything, while pursuing expressive goals, since he did not tolerate the imperfect and passing. I remember how he put on the music stand collections of etudes by Leshgorn, Czerny, Moshkovsky and played entire notebooks of them - and as if he had been playing it for a hundred years - easily, brilliantly, masterfully, at an incredible tempo, and even with humor, because he loved that on the go add something. As for his activities, he practiced very little with the instrument, but spent most of the day in music: studying notes, getting acquainted with works on scores that were new to him, and reading from sight. At the age of 13-15, he managed to familiarize himself with such a gigantic number of works that were inaccessible to anyone.
Even then, universalism was manifested in him - conductor's, composer's thinking?
Alexey Bruni: At that time he was already engaged in composition. I remember his early works well - the Piano Concerto, which he performed at an evening at the Central Music School boarding school and then never played anywhere else. I remember his Variations - a worthy, charming and already masterfully written composition. At the same time, he tried to organize a student orchestra at the boarding school. He himself selected what could be played by this almost amateur orchestra, since the guys were of different ages and different degrees of development. Later, in 1977-78, I had the opportunity to participate in his conducting debut with a symphony orchestra. These were his performances in Yaroslavl, Minsk, and Kazan: his work was performed - Fantasy for violin and orchestra on Kazakh themes. Misha conducted, and under his direction I performed as a soloist. Then we performed this “Fantasy” in Alma-Ata and made a VZHZ recording (“instead of a live recording”) with Vladimir Fedoseev - in the studio, but without splices and additions. I have this recording on a tape cassette. We were interested in a lot of things back then, in particular, the musical avant-garde. I remember how Misha brought the scores of Krzysztof Penderecki - and then it was absolutely revolutionary music, which practically no one knew - and we studied these scores with interest and listened. We also constantly bought Peters scores - they were cheap, a Beethoven symphony could cost 30-40 kopecks, but even these kopecks were very difficult for us boys to find. And we were very happy when we managed to buy something new. In my home library, many scores have been preserved from that very time: all the symphonies of Beethoven, the symphonies of Mozart, Haydn, “St. Matthew Passion,” “St. John Passion,” and much more.
Pletnev is not only talented in music, he is a polyglot and encyclopedist?
Alexey Bruni: Yes, he started learning languages quite early. In those days there was not a large selection of literature on this issue. And I remember well how he brought from Yugoslavia self-instruction books for German and French in the Serbian language, which he already knew by that time. And he himself, without any teachers, remembered, began to speak in tongues, read books. Then he also studied Italian and English. He has excellent logical thinking and memory. We spent a lot of time playing chess, but he also had other sports hobbies: ping-pong, football. To be honest, he spent his preparation for the Tchaikovsky Competition mainly on the football field and in the gym with a racket in his hand. Of course, I was ready for the competition. But in general he worked in a very unique way. He could be talking to someone, and at that moment his hand was lying on his knee and his fingers were working: he was learning a piece of music in parallel with the conversation. I have seen a lot of musicians of various calibers in my time, but I have never seen such a gifted person.
In addition to music, you have always been connected by an understanding of poetry. Did you read your poems to him?
Alexander Bruni: Yes, he knows most of them. But it must be said that Pletnev himself aroused his creative interest and began to write poetry. He really doesn’t show them to anyone - only to friends in a close circle. His poems are very original, grotesque, but often funny and paradoxical - in the spirit of Kharms. He also has stories written in the same absurdist style.
Has he always had such an ironically depressive worldview?
Alexey Bruni: Traits of pessimism appeared in him for a long time, since his maturity was not boyish. On the one hand, he had youthful enthusiasm, on the other, absolutely not youthful professionalism. And thirdly, his understanding of serious global problems is beyond his age. This peculiar mixture of moods and interests was always present in him. But he really loved to play the fool on occasion. He sat down at the piano and began to play, fantasize, and parody. He could start with a Bach fugue and gradually turn it into a Shostakovich fugue. Moreover, it was so harmonious that sometimes it was difficult to notice how it happened. Once, on my birthday, he also sat down at the piano and began to play the fool. And works by several composers were performed at once. Let's say it was Beethoven's fifth symphony, Shostakovich's fifth, Saint-Saëns' rondo capriccioso and A Million Scarlet Roses. And all this at the same time, intertwined, both separately and together. It was extremely funny. I could listen to him for hours.
He began a brilliant period - victory at the Tchaikovsky competition, a rapid concert career, communication and performances with Richter: did something change in him then?
Alexey Bruni: Absolutely nothing has changed. Internally, he was ready for success, and manifestations of success in themselves did not interest him. He doesn’t care whether he is a laureate or not. He continued to have the same zeal for the art of music, for expanding his musical horizons, and for performing musical compositions to the highest possible degree of perfection. But, of course, the main thing in the development of his career was his victory at the Tchaikovsky competition. After this victory, he immediately received the opportunity to perform at leading concert venues and abroad with major conductors and orchestras. Already in those years, his performing priorities were developed: Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich.
Now he plays a lot of music that is practically not performed here or is little known here?
Alexey Bruni: These are links of the same chain. He always had a passion for mastering the new, the unknown. He is interested in creative people, he is interested in discovering what no one knows. He performed many works by Sibelius that I had never heard: “Pelleas and Melisandau”, “The Tempest”. In recent years, he became interested in Mieczyslaw Karlovich, whose music is not known or played anywhere except Poland. Pletnev is trying to restore historical justice, doing everything to revive interest in a certain composer. For example, he performs a lot of Sergei Taneyev’s music, recorded with the RNO “After the Reading of the Psalm”, “John of Damascus” by Taneyev, and performed his opera “Oresteia” in a concert version. It is important for him that people hear and appreciate the music of these composers.
You are Pletnev’s first violin and his friend. Doesn't it affect your relationship that Pletnev has the highest status in the music world?
Alexey Bruni: There was never the slightest degree of cheap conceit in him. As Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky said, “you must love the art in yourself, and not yourself in art.” This is the main feature of Pletnev. Our relationship has never been marred by our disparity in fame. I won’t say that everything was simple in our friendship, but we were always united by music and a number of other interests - chess, sports, poetry and much more. He never had any awareness of his own achievements; from an early age he had the dignity of an artist.
And at the same time, a penchant for risk, unexpected interests, including piloting an airplane.
Alexander Brugi: This is a trait of talent: he is interested in too many things. He can't get hung up on one thing. He has a nature that manifests itself through risks, including through the art of flying, airplanes, and helicopters. In general, his whole life is an endless risk. Because the stage is always a test. The scene is a risk.
What colleagues and friends say
Not only a pianist and conductor - also a composer
Valery Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater:
I would like to wish Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev good luck and health. We once performed together, and now he is also the leader of one of our best orchestras.
Denis Matsuev, pianist, People's Artist of the Russian Federation:
Mikhail Vasilyevich is turning 60 years old, and I feel like I just played on his 50th birthday. I remember that anniversary forever: it was the release of nine Beethoven symphonies and five Beethoven concertos performed by Pletnev. And I have never heard such concerts and symphonies - this is surprisingly fresh, some new, Pletnevsky Beethoven. Mikhail Vasilyevich - an outstanding pianist, became a unique outstanding conductor. There are only a few such examples in the world: you can only compare them with Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov. Today he is truly a musical figure on a planetary scale, continuing Rachmaninov’s line. In my life, Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev is a separate chapter: as a student I went to all his concerts at the conservatory, then, after my victory at the Tchaikovsky competition in 1998, we played together for the first time. I remember how he drew parallels then: he won the Tchaikovsky competition in 1978, and I won the Tchaikovsky competition 20 years later, his jury chairman was Andrei Eshpai - and mine, in the third round he played the Tchaikovsky concerto and the Liszt concerto, and I too . And once in Montreal we played Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto, and I got tremendous pleasure from playing with him - because as a pianist he knows every note of the concerto, and as a conductor he offers unique ideas. After the concert, we sat all night and listened to Nikolai Golovanov’s recordings. This is an icon for Mikhail Vasilyevich; he is guided by Golovanov in his work. And for me, he also discovered this unique conductor. Mikhail Pletnev is also a composer. I remember how, on his 50th birthday, I performed his Quintet with flute, violin, viola and cello: what phenomenally subtle, graceful music it is, with a deep plot inside in the spirit of Shostakovich! Of course, he has not yet been appreciated as a composer. We all know that the last decade has passed under the sign of the absence of Pletnev the pianist on stage, and we seem to have been orphaned. But three years ago he returned to the stage, and it was a different Pletnev - a little distant, coldish, whose interpretations were impossible to tear away from. Sometimes he can shock - as in the Tsfasman Suite he performed. He played it with such a special, caustic Pletnev-style humor! Mikhail Vasilyevich remains one of the best musicians in the world, as does the Russian National Orchestra, which he created in 1990. The musicians do not go to work in this orchestra for a salary, they go to Pletnev, they come for communication, to play music together, to be creative together. And this is a pleasure that is indescribable in words.
Vladimir Fedoseev, conductor, People's Artist of the USSR, artistic director of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra. P.I. Tchaikovsky, music director of Helikon Opera:
Mikhail Pletnev is a very individual person who does not fit into any standards. His heart and mind are connected together. He is a musician who is both intellectual and emotional. After the Tchaikovsky Competition, we recorded all of Tchaikovsky's concerts in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and he made a huge impression on everyone. Every year this impression grows in my eyes and in the eyes of the public. He is a musician who lives separately with music as if it were his own world. He is a composer and conductor. In fact, I was the first to realize that he wanted to conduct. He then consulted with me, asked conducting questions, and I realized that he was striving for this. After some time, he had his own orchestra. I won’t hide that I was offended when he took several musicians from the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra to the RNO. But I forgave him everything because I understood the situation. We have always had very close, friendly relations with him, and I am always glad to meet and play with him. I just love him and want to continue creating for as long as possible. And one more thing: it must always be supported. You rarely meet such musicians. We have a lot of pianists, but Mikhail Pletnev stands out in a special place.
Martin Engström, music director of the Verbier Festival:
Mikhail Pletnev is one of the great pianists of our time. From 1999 to 2006 I worked as director of Deutsche Grammophon and had the pleasure of meeting him at that time. Since then I have attended many of his concerts; participated in the creation of recordings of his live performances, including the famous recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall, as well as Sergei Rachmaninov's Third Concerto, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. At the Verbier Music Festival we recorded chamber music with him - Taneyev's Piano Quintet. Many times the pianist performed with and conducted our festival orchestra. This summer we are waiting for him again and in a new capacity - this time he will perform with the famous German baritone Stefan Genz.
I am a big fan of this musician's pianistic style and artistry. I think that communicating with him over a number of years led us to a certain commonality of emotional response and perception. In every concert of Mikhail Pletnev there is always an element of the new, unexpected. You can never predict what he will tell us today with his music. And at the same time, you always feel that it is he who is speaking now only to you, sometimes using just one cherished phrase, even just intonation!.. And when you come to the same concert, you will never hear the same thing. This musician has a unique ability to create a new image, create new fantastic interpretations. I admire him.
Alexey Shalashov, General Director of the Moscow Philharmonic:
Mikhail Pletnev is a successor of the great piano traditions, a musician-philosopher, a musician-thinker. His concerts always become events - deep, internal, personal. When you listen to it, you understand that this is not just music, but a refined clarity of meaning, striking in the simplicity of its presentation.
Pianist, conductor, composer Mikhail Vasilyevich Pletnev was born on April 14, 1957 in Arkhangelsk into a family of professional musicians. Father - Pletnev Vasily Pavlovich, accordion player, graduated from the Gnessin Institute. Mother - Pletneva Olga Dmitrievna, pianist.
Soon after Mikhail's birth, the Pletnev family moved to Saratov, then to Kazan. Mikhail Pletnev began studying music in early childhood. At the age of 7, he entered a special ten-year music school at the Kazan Conservatory to study piano. At the age of 13 he was transferred to the Central Music School at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Evgeny Timakin. At the age of 16, Pletnev became a laureate of the International Youth Piano Competition in Paris.
From 1974 to 1979, Mikhail Pletnev studied at the Moscow Conservatory, first in the class of Professor Yakov Flier, and after his death in 1977, in the class of Professor Lev Vlasenko.
In July 2010, Pletnev found himself under investigation in Thailand on charges of molesting a minor. The musician was released on bail and, with the permission of the court, repeatedly traveled from Pattaya to concerts.
Investigation into the case. On December 28, the Russian’s lawyer Som Kiyaat reported that the prosecutor’s office of the Chonburi province in Thailand did not find grounds to initiate a criminal case against the famous Russian musician under the article of molestation of a minor. After the end of the investigation, Pletnev left Thailand and continued touring in Russia and abroad.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources.
