After you have read the text

1. Answer the following questions about the text.

1. How do we call Yevgeni Mravinsky?

2. What is his manner of conducting?

3. What did the Japanese “Sankei simbun” write about Y. Mravinsky?

4. When was Mravinsky appointed Principal Conductor of the Leningrad PO?

5. In which way did he perform his duties?

6. What are the сharaсteristic features of the Leningrad PO?

7. How can the harmonious blending of all orchestral instruments be reached?

8. Why can't the manner of performance be fixed permanently?

9. How does the audience accept the performances of the orchestra under Mravinsky?

10. What is the evidence to the tremendous success of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra leading by Mravinsky?

11. Which honour of Mravinsky can be considered as an extraordinary one?

12. Who was the first honorary member of the Vienna Society of Musicfriends?

2. Choose the correct word.

1. After he graduated from the Conservatoire he was (gained, appointed, acclaimed) director of a musical college. 2. The witness described the (profound, unshakable, austere) appearance of the conductor. 3. There were no (commonplaces, manners, idioms) in the speech of the author. 4. The (administration, conviction, hospitality) of the conductor overpowered the musicians of the orchestra. 5. Under the impact of the conductor the orchestra gained its (eager, violent, own) style. 6. D. Shostakovich possessed enough (vigour, audience, ailment) to go his own way in music. 7. The musicians of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra admired the (purposeful, exaggerating, restrained) manners of the Principal Conductor. 8. Each performance of the great master was a (feast, respect, blend). 9. The lullaby usually (possesses, conjures up, hails) the face of my beloved mother. 10. During his lifetime Shostakovich was (subject, eager, ardent) to obey the decisions of the party. ll. (Noble, gloomy, capacity) audiences bear witness of the orchestra's mastery. 12. He never (strived, suffered, broadened) for outward effects.

3. Select the correct meaning of the words.

1) profound а) заявлять, констатировать

2) exaggeration b) строгий, аскетический

3) competition c) ценный, дорогой

4) trace d) сила, энергия

5) state e) восхищение

6) restrained f) след

7) austere g) черта

8) rehearsal h) соревнование, конкурс

9) valuable i) сравнение

10) vigour j) преувеличение

k) репетиция

l) глубокий, мудрый

m) повторение

n) обладать, владеть

o) сдержанный, умеренный

4. Review text A orally.

5. Imagine that you are a conductor of a Philharmonic Orchestra. Please, tell which opus you will take for performing, ground your choice and describe how you will lead the rehearsals.

6. Describe a concert of a Symphonic Orchestra you have attended recently.

7. Read and retell text B.

Text b musician’s rebellious nature

The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra is said to have one of the richest and most individual timbres of all symphony ensembles in Russia. For more than 20 years it has been headed by Veronica Dudarova, People’s Artist of the USSR. If you have not attended the rehearsals of the orchestra, you will hardly imagine what a conductor’s “fanaticism” could be like. By that I don’t mean the inspired rendition of music in front of the audience, but the conductor’s routine sessions with her colleagues when literally every detail is finished to a jeweller’s precision in every instrumental part. It is her uncompromising tribute to the truth of musical imagery.

“I always fall in love with a musical work the way I do with a painting”, Dudarova says. Indeed, many critics point out Dudarova’s gift of making the voice of her orchestra “all but visual”. No other task is more welcome to her that engaging her young colleagues in the search of colour.

The repertoire of the orchestra includes Bach, Viennese classics, works by Russian and West European romanticists, Symphonies by Brahms, Mahler and Bruckner, as well as 20^th-century music.

Veronica Dudarova doesn’t restrict her musical tastes to any definite style. She likes to work on major symphonic forms of philosophic contents, on music with great literature in the background, the newspaper “Moscow News” wrote. While being interviewed by the correspondent of this newspaper Dudarova said: “I should name three composers as the most important ones for both me personally, and the Soviet audiences at large. They are Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, just in this order”.

The orchestra was extremely good at accompanying, too. It took a special quality by the conductor to be able to “breathe” in unison with the soloist. All these qualities characterized the performance of Veronica Dudarova’s orchestra in our country and abroad. The orchestra toured many continents and countries, such as Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and many others.

Proper Names

Viennese [,vIq’nJz]

Johannes Brahms [jou’hxnIs ’brRms]

Gustav Mahler [‘gustQv ‘mRlqr]

Anton Bruckner [An’tOn ‘bruknqr]

Venezuela [,venq’zjui:lq]

Colombia [kq’lOmbiq]

Panama [,pxnq’mR]