Но с благодарностию: были."
Майкл Конвей Бейкер Соната для фортепиано ор. 31 (1975) :
https://rutube.ru/video/9c124404f39c815049b7cc63fbcec1c1/
In 2019, in Vancouver Canada, we recorded the Piano Sonata Op. 31 (1975) by Canadian composer Michael Conway Baker on CD. It's quite an incredible story.
We agreed to meet Michael the day before the recording so I could play it for him and we could discuss some of the interpretation details. The sonata was a recent discovery of mine, I learned it quickly, and we decided to include the piece in the disc program. I loved its combination of extremes: from pop to atonality. It had a well-constructed, single-movement form, clear and logical. It began, in Tsvetaeva's style, "with a high note," extreme tension, a strong hit. And then—a journey of the soul... That's how I envisioned this piece.
The day of the meeting arrived. In the morning, I prepared, rehearsed the sonata, collected my thoughts, and set the table for tea. And then, unexpected news from my native Omsk: Dad had died... a heart attack... The meeting couldn't be canceled—Michael is 80, we'd been waiting a long time for the right moment, and the recording was tomorrow. And should we cancel? It was probably even better this way. Michael arrived. We worked thoroughly on the sonata, after which I told him what had happened. Amazingly, that day, it became piercingly clear to me what exactly this piece was about. "A strong hit" and "journeys of the soul" became absolutely tangible.
The disc is called "One Life Lived..." and is dedicated to my father, Mikhail. The program begins with Michael K. Baker's Sonata (its first recording on disc). And then – milestones of a lived life: J.S. Bach's Toccata in E minor, Sergei Prokofiev's "Music for Children," and his Seventh Piano Sonata, created during the war. And as a postscript, a little "farewell" – "The Cloud," written by my son Antoine Villéger.
And this year, on December 1st, Michael K. Baker passed away. He was Antoine's composition mentor for three years. On Christmas Eve, we listened to his luminous music – the "Vancouver Variations" for orchestra. Meanwhile, snow was falling outside, clouds of snow, driven by the wind, were peeking into the room where the lights on the Christmas tree were ablaze. And it was so miraculous, so Christmassy...
"Speak not with sadness: they are gone;
But with gratitude: they were."
Michael Conway Baker, Piano Sonata, Op. 31 (1975):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L2a5hNDVqPU&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD
