Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, artistic director of the Alexandrov Ensemble: “I don’t understand how you can not love the Church”
On board the crashed TU-154 was and died Valery Khalilov, the main military conductor of Russia, the head of the ensemble - the artistic director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov, who was sent with the ensemble to organize New Year’s greeting events at the Khmeimim airbase. In memory of him, we have collected fragments from several interviews with Valery Mikhailovich Khalilov - about childhood, military profession and faith in God:
About baptism and faith
“I was baptized at the age of four. I grew up in a village near Kirzhach, my grandmother was a believer, and not just a devout one, like all the old women in those days, but a deep, sincere believer. She often told me: “Granddaughter, it’s not ours, not we should cancel,” because Orthodoxy and church life seemed to me something completely organic, unchangeable and correct. The wooden chapel that stood in our village was destroyed, and on holidays all the grandmothers went to the monastery church in the neighboring village. them, and I remember everything, even though I was little: our fabulous forests, Vladimir... strawberry meadows, domed churches. Even Russian nature itself is fascinating, but I don’t understand how you can not love the Church, at least as a part of Russian spiritual culture. !
I was strong, I’ll be honest, but now I’m skinny. In general, I was so plump, plump, I was already, so to speak, a conscious person. Dad was a communist, and my mother, taking advantage of the opportunity that my father was working and I was in the village, she says to my grandmother: “Come on, while my father is away.” But dad wasn’t against it, but you know what it was like in those days? He was an army officer, he was a conductor, like my brother is a conductor, and my nephew in Sevastopol is now a conductor, by the way. Therefore, maybe because my mother was afraid that if they found out from my father, they might do something. In short, I was baptized. I remember this moment very well, when I was baptized for the first time. They put me in the courtyard, in the yard, we have a hut and a yard in front of the hut. They put it in a basin with cold water. How's that? Father leaned over me, and I was such a healthy boy, and I grabbed his beard. You know how it is... Butt by the beard.
I was baptized at the age of four, and when I slept in the hallway, there was a picture above my head. I don’t remember which one, there were a lot of holy people in this picture, but every “lights out”, as they say now in military parlance, I was accompanied by this picture. When I went to bed, the boy was completely in the village in this hut. Then she disappeared, because there were times when people went around collecting paintings and icons. And our village is unguarded, they just broke into many of the icons in many of our houses in the village, just... Then it was such a disgrace. This icon has disappeared. Besides, we have such a village, so picturesque, so stunning, small, so patriarchal, it’s simply impossible not to believe in something so heavenly there, despite all its beauty.
This is the environment in which I was brought up. This is all, as they say, from God. I have this Russianness, it is rooted in this village.
All this prompted me to believe in God. Well, besides this, there were just cases, very interesting... and why did I live, then, now it’s called Yakimanka. As before, by the way, there is this church there, Oktyabrskaya metro station. And then Easter, I remember. People walk around the church, this really stuck with me. We, young people, stand on the parapets around the church; the police do not let us in there. Grandmothers in headscarves with children and small children enter there - they let them through. We can’t go there, we are young people - they don’t let us in there, and I think this is what they are doing there, what they are doing there, why they are not letting us in.
Here's the question: why? What are they doing there that’s so bad, why aren’t they letting us in? I was always drawn there because singing was heard from there, some smells, you know, candles, all that, crosses, some kind of sacrament. It was still attractive. The more they banned it, the more I was drawn there in this sense. There are some little things that go unnoticed, and then you analyze: why did you do that? Yes, because this little thing influenced you, so everyone goes to God on their own path, of course, and some, maybe even some little things, lead to this road, I don’t know. Signs? Don't know. But it did, thank God!
About choosing a profession
My dad was a military conductor. I now have a younger brother who is a military conductor. And the current military conductor's nephew, a lieutenant, serves as a sailor in Sevastopol. That is, I have male line dynastic family, military conductors. Thanks to my father, I entered the Moscow Military music school. And, to be honest, when I got in, I didn’t understand why I went there. At the age of 11, he was torn away from the comforts of home and ended up within the walls of a closed educational institution. Moreover, everything was inherent in the military mentality: getting up, going out, exercising, physical activity. And, of course, general education and musical items. The duration of study is 7 years; I entered at 11 and graduated at 18. All my physical and biological growth occurred during this period. The school gave me the professional education that I still use today. That's how I became a military conductor.
About sacred and military music
I often think about the internal similarity of seemingly opposite spheres - military and sacred music. After all, military music has amazing power, and, contrary to stereotypes, it is not at all aggressive. It pains me to hear when they say that the execution of marches is a step towards the militarization of the entire country. It seems to me that we need to think in categories artistic taste. A good march is as difficult to write as good song! Every great composer has its own face, the national musical tradition too: main feature our, Russian, military music - in its special melodicism, in its folklore, popular intonations.
Do they know how modern people perceive classical music? It is possible to determine whether a person perceives music well or poorly only after he learns to perceive it! And how does a person discover the beauty classical music, if he was not instilled with love for her from childhood? There is a zone in the soul of each of us that is open to everything high and good - open to the right music. And I call the right music that which, in its emotional impact, encourages a person to the most best deeds- creation, creation. And if so-called “light” music can serve as an unobtrusive background, then classical music can never do so. Listening to classics is the work of the soul.
People are the same at all times, they are always open to good music. This means that we must educate to the best of our abilities. Without boasting, I can say that we have opened the doors of many concert halls for military bands: Great Hall Moscow Conservatory, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, International House of Music. And we give out free tickets, despite the fact that, according to all the laws of commerce, people are supposedly more willing to go to events when they bought a ticket with their own money. Believe me, I never flattered myself with the hope that all our concerts would be sold out, but we have people sitting on the steps just to listen to the music! And how can you then say that modern man not able to perceive the classics?
We dream of bringing brass music back to the parks and to the people. After all, people today especially lack something real... at work, in everyday life, and we try to fill this urgent need with live music and beautiful melodies. Here a typical city person comes to a concert: merged with the city, unable to imagine his life without hot water and TV, as if stuck, dried up to this comfortable life. And suddenly he hears the sounds of a military brass band, plunges into another world and... thaws. Ask him at this moment what he is thinking about now, and he will definitely say: about love, about children, about his homeland, about God.
You know, I noticed an amazing thing: a brass band simply cannot play bad music! Even if the musicians play poorly, this music still enchants, even if some sounds are conveyed incorrectly. It’s like in nature: one person likes autumn, another doesn’t: everything withers, it’s slushy, your feet get wet. But still, every time of year is wonderful! The same is true for wind music: its very nature, its very breath is pure, bright. It is probably on this plane that music - whether military or simply classical - intersects with spiritual life. And I really want my work to instill only moral values in people.
I have a joke like this. I tell religious people: “You know, I have a friend who wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on the topic “The influence of brass music on the spiritual life of the clergy.” This is a joke, but of course, in reality, and again I always say this: technology is developing, but where do people tend to go with urbanization? Where are they heading? To nature. I always compare, look what’s happening on Friday, what’s going on on the roads - where is everyone running? In the forest, in the clearings, in nature.
The brass band is nature, it is a living sound emanating from there, from within. And even if he plays primitively, even the boys play, the amateur orchestra is these simple melodies, this primitivism even, in a sense, but the presentation of these sounds, these natural ones, and again I say, at the genetic level, makes people hear. There are people all around, I don’t want to say, all sorts of people, maybe even strange ones, but they gather because apparently this music of ours somehow affects the cerebral cortex. They're getting ready. Even if they play poorly, the crowd gathers around the brass band.
On prayer in a military march
Let’s say, the march “General Miloradovich”. The idea was suggested by Colonel Babanko Gennady Ivanovich, who during my service in Pushkino was the head of the political department of the school and, already in retirement, wrote the book “General Miloradovich”, knowing that I was writing music, called me and said: Valer, write music about General Miloradovich , I’ll give you a book to read, and you, inspired by this book, write a march. And after reading the book, I realized that the fate of this general is completely extraordinary and not only forgotten, but in a conceptual understanding it is simply perverted.
General Miloradovich, commanding the rearguard, did not allow the enemy to collide with our troops at the time he wanted. Hero of the War of 1812. In 1824, the December uprising. Senate Square. As you know, the Decembrists withdrew their troops. Miloradovich was the Governor-General of St. Petersburg. When he entered Senate. square, the troops, recognizing him, began to fall on their faces. And one of the Decembrists, former lieutenant Kakhovsky, seeing that a turning point in the uprising was about to happen, he used a ladies’ pistol from behind to inflict a mortal wound on Miloradovich, from which he died.
So there is Kakhovsky Street in St. Petersburg, but there is no Miloradovich Street. And in general, the surname Miloradovich arose after the tsar summoned Khrabrenovich, his ancestor, and said: you are very dear to me with your courage, you will become Miloradovich. And in this march for the first time I used prayer, and I wrote the music for this prayer myself. There is no such analogue. And if you listen to the march carefully, you can imagine the social life of St. Petersburg, and the prayer service before the battle, and the return of these Russian soldiers. All this with a choir.
By the way, in the march, in our Russian and Soviet marches, this is the first time that prayer has been introduced into the march. I did this based on the image that General Miloradovich himself promised me, because he was certainly an Orthodox, believer, and since the troops were leaving for the battlefield, there was always a prayer service. So I made this prayer service - in the Gospel, with the help of a believer, I found words dedicated to “our howls”, and put music on these words, as is usually done. You will hear this prayer in the middle of the march. And then you will hear the victorious procession, the return of our troops from the battlefield to the salute, and again you will hear the first part, again the return to social life. In the course of, I don’t know, I think, five or four and a half minutes, the life of this glorious general Miloradovich will flash before you. This is a march, this is a Russian march, I wrote it. There is nothing so reprehensible in it, regarding, as they say, excuse the expression, a boot - there is no such thing. This is a very secular, very beautiful, I think, march. By the way, many conductors love it and often perform it, although it is difficult to perform.
About Russian military musicians
Our country is the only one where there is a well-functioning system for training military conductors. Abroad, they become people who already have a higher education music education and have passed certification in physical training. But our army trains its own musicians. First, secondary education - Moscow Military music school accepts ninth-graders, after graduation they can enter the Institute of Military Conductors on the basis of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense. Such a system of training and education produces a specialist familiar with army life from the inside. Coming to the orchestra as a lieutenant, he already knows what and how to do. This has a positive effect on the skill of our orchestras. For example, during the parade on Red Square, 1000 military musicians play about 40 compositions by heart. Foreigners are amazed at the synchronicity and beauty of the performance.
Khalilov Valery Mikhailovich - head of the ensemble - artistic director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov, People's Artist Russian Federation, Lieutenant General
Born into the family of a military conductor. He started studying music at the age of four. He graduated from the Moscow Military Music School (now the Moscow Military Music School) and the Military Conducting Faculty at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky. Upon completion of his studies, he was appointed military conductor of the orchestra of the Pushkin Higher Military Command School of Air Defense Radio Electronics.
After the orchestra under the direction of Valery Khalilov took first place in the competition of military orchestras of the Leningrad Military District (1980), he became a teacher at the conducting department of the Military Conducting Faculty at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky.
In 1984, Valery Khalilov was transferred to the management body of the military band service of the USSR Ministry of Defense, where he served as an officer of the military band service, senior officer and deputy head of the military band service.
From 2002 to 2016 Valery Khalilov – head of the military band service Armed Forces The Russian Federation is the main military conductor.
In April 2016, by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Valery Khalilov was appointed to the position of Head of the Ensemble - artistic director Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrova.
Valery Khalilov – musical director such international military music festivals as “Spasskaya Tower” (Moscow), “Amur Waves” (Khabarovsk), “March of the Century” (Tambov) and the International Military Music Festival in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Valery Khalilov is a member of the Union of Composers of Russia. His work as a composer is mainly associated with the genres of brass orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber instrumental music.
He toured with the leading orchestras of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, North Korea, Lebanon, Mongolia, Poland, USA, Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden.
Tragically died on December 25, 2016 as a result of a plane crash of a Tu-154 RA-85572 aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense, en route from Adler airport to Syria.
I saw a video of Valery Khalilov on social networks: a young naval officer conducting an orchestra. His gestures reminded me of the unique handwriting of the chief military conductor of the Ministry of Defense, who in recent months life he also headed the Alexandrov Ensemble.
“This is Mikhail, father’s nephew,” explained Maria, daughter of Valery Mikhailovich. - Serves in Sevastopol.
Saktime, composer - Valery Khalilov..
The other day I contacted Mikhail Khalilov. (By the way, his full position reads like this: military conductor of the orchestra of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.)
“About the special “Khalilov conducting” that is noticeable in you,” I ask, “am I right?”
Yes, I watch a lot of my uncle’s concerts. Of course, I would like to conduct like Valery Mikhailovich. My father, Alexander Mikhailovich, is a military conductor, colonel. And my grandfather, Mikhail Nikolaevich Khalilov, was a military conductor. By the way, I was named after my grandfather... I, as they say, was not yet born, but I already knew that I would be a military musician. Took music lessons from my uncle. And my father worked with me. He graduated from the Suvorov Military Music School with honors, and from the Institute of Military Conductors. By distribution, back in 2011, I ended up in Sevastopol.
March Kant, composer - Valery Khalilov..
I have seen Valery Khalilov conduct many times - both on Red Square and at the Khmeimim base in Syria... Energetic.
Firstly, Valery Mikhailovich himself was an energetic person. He had no “non-concrete” gestures, no “smeariness”... I think the way General Khalilov conducted was a standard. He himself composed the music - just as energetic. (In total, Valery Mikhailovich has more than 100 works, many marches.) And he loved to repeat the words of Suvorov: “Music doubles and triples the army...”
- Well, military power.
Yes! We remember him often. During his life, however, we rarely saw him, he was always with the orchestra, always flying somewhere... Literally a month before his death, he gave me his conductor’s baton - made of cherry wood. For me, it’s as if Valery Mikhailovich is with me. I conduct it only when we give such big concerts with our orchestra. I'm taking care of her...
March "Alexander" (M. Khalilov).
LET'S REMEMBER EVERYONE BY NAME
The crew and passengers of the Tu-154 military aircraft
On December 25, 2016, a Tu-154 military aircraft crashed into the Black Sea near Sochi. There were 92 people on board the aircraft - crew members, artists of the Alexandrov ensemble, journalists from Channel One, NTV and the Zvezda TV channel.
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Valery Mikhailovich Khalilov was born on January 30, 1952 in the Uzbek city of Termez. His father was a military conductor. Valery and his younger brother subsequently followed in his footsteps.
Khalilov began studying music at the age of four. When he was 9 years old, the family moved to Moscow. Two years later, Valery was sent to the Moscow Military Music School. She was in Serebryany Bor. In one of his interviews, Khalilov recalled that a real army spirit reigned at school, which strengthened him. He graduated from it in two classes: clarinet and piano.
After school, Khalilov became a student at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Valery chose the military conducting department.
Career
His first place of work after graduating from the conservatory was the orchestra of the Pushkin Higher Military Command School of Air Defense Radio Electronics. Valery was hired there as a conductor. Five years later, the orchestra under his direction won the competition of the Leningrad Military District.
In 1981, Khalilov began leading teaching activities. He began teaching classes at the military conducting department at his alma mater.
In 1984, Valery was sent to the directorate of the military band service of the USSR Armed Forces. There he rose from officer to deputy chief.
In 2002, Khalilov became Russia's chief military conductor. In this position, he organized many parades throughout the country, including on Red Square.
Khalilov was not afraid to enrich the repertoire of military bands. He played songs Soviet era, jazz compositions and own compositions.
Tragic death
In 2016, he became the director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov. Together with his artists, on December 26, 2016, he died in a plane crash over the Black Sea. Then the ensemble, led by Khalilov, flew to Syria to give New Year's concerts in front of the Russian military.
Valery is buried in a cemetery near the village of Novinki, Kirzhach district, Vladimir region. This is his mother's homeland. He often visited Novinki as a child, and bequeathed to bury himself there.
In June 2018, Russia’s first monument to Valery Khalilov was erected in Tambov. At one time, he called this city the Mecca of military brass music. Khalilov arranged in Tambov and international festivals brass bands.
Personal life
Valery Khalilov was married. He met Natalya in Abkhazia, in her hometown Gagra. At that time, Valery was still an ordinary soldier. In his marriage to Natalya, two daughters were born.
Valery Khalilov is the organizer of festive theatrical events, in which numerous military personnel took part brass bands from different countries peace. IN exclusive interview Valery Mikhailovich shared his memories of his years of study at the military music school, the creation of marches and the changes that took place in military music to correspondents of the Existence news agency Marat Bekmurzaev and Anna Kacherova.
IA "Existence": Valery Mikhailovich, who came up with the idea of holding the Spasskaya Tower festival?
Khalilov V.M.: The Spasskaya Tower festival, which has become traditional, took place for the third time in 2010. The first military music show was called “Kremlin Zorya”. It took place in September 2007, permission to hold it was signed by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin. The very idea of a parade ground concert arose in connection with the amazing architecture of Red Square. I think that's exactly main square capital with historical scenery - walls, Kremlin towers, St. Basil's Cathedral - is an ideal platform for an amazing patriotic performance that introduces Russians to achievements in the field of military music. The core of the festival will be military bands, including 1,400 musicians from 15 countries. In addition, as in previous years, honor guard units - the Presidential Regiment of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan - took part in the review.
News Agency "Existence": What do you expect from the festival?
Khalilov V.M.: I would really like to structure the transition to the final logically and “compile” all the performances in a highly professional manner. For example, the European Union orchestra, consisting of 40 bagpipers, will perform as the fifth number on the program. After the fashion show, a Russian orchestra will join him and perform a number on the theme of wartime songs (last year we played a medley of songs from the legendary The Beatles). We shifted the emphasis in such a way that the finale itself – the solemn overture “1812” by P.I. Tchaikovsky and the famous old march by V.I. Agapkin's "Farewell of a Slav" - it turned out to be solid, without eclecticism. 2010 is an anniversary year, we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Victory Day of our people in the Great Patriotic War. That's why special attention We focus on the topic of Victory. On the afternoon of September 5, for Muscovites and guests of the city, the leading military orchestras of the festival will play in Izmailovsky Park, Sokolniki, Gorky Park, Alexander Garden, Poklonnaya Hill and in Tsaritsyno, and that same evening at 20.00 on Red Square there will be a charity Gala concert “Boundaries of Our Memory”, at which bards will perform military songs.
News Agency "Existence": How does Spasskaya Tower 2010 differ from previous festivals?
Khalilov V.M.: Despite the traditional nature of the festival, many innovations are presented at it. For the first time, the Horn Orchestra from St. Petersburg performed on Red Square. Known since the time of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, the unusual composition of wind instruments has been revived and will play a specially created fanfare: 14 musicians trumpeted the beginning of the holiday from the walkway of the Spasskaya Tower. The festival program also became new and varied. The Bundeswehr Orchestra (Germany) offered the audience works by Richard Wagner, a group from the USA performed the music of Michael Jackson, cadets of the Moscow Suvorov Military Music School played “Sabre Dance” by Aram Khachaturian and pop music.
News Agency "Existence": Valery Mikhailovich, you have made a brilliant career as a military conductor, headed the Military Band Service of the Russian Army, this year after the Victory Parade you were awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Please tell us how your music career? When did you first pick up the baton?
Khalilov V.M..: This happened in 1970. I graduated from the military music school, then entered the military conducting department of the Moscow State Conservatory. P.I. Tchaikovsky. I ended up in the class of Professor Georgy Petrovich Alyavdin, a student of Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin, the most famous Russian teacher, whose students were outstanding conductors, including Valery Abisalovich Gergiev.
News Agency "Existence": What musical instrument did you start playing?
Khalilov V.M.: I've been playing music since I was four years old. Played the piano.
News Agency "Existence": So, you had no doubts about your choice of profession?
Khalilov V.M.: Dad didn't have it. I had enormous doubts. Having entered the Suvorov Music School, I thought: “Where did I end up?” I was eleven years old and my head was shaved. Yes, I loved to play football and play hooligans, like all the boys in the yard, but at the same time I was a home child and studied music. At school, I even happened to cry from resentment... Evaluating my choice many years later, I believe that it was the right one, because I continued the family dynasty. Military Music School– unique educational institution: We had a huge competition - fifty people per place, thirty people from all over the USSR entered the course. An amazing fact: during seven years of study, only four cadets were expelled, and then for health reasons. And our team of teachers and students was wonderful.
News Agency "Existence": Do you keep in touch with them?
Khalilov V.M..: Certainly! We gather annually at the end of May in Serebryany Bor, where the school was located.
News Agency "Existence": What inspires you to create your own works?
Khalilov V.M.: The inspiration comes from the army, because the main theme of my work is the army. I write marches, I like it and it comes easy to me, I don’t strive for other genres. Once I was visiting the great Russian composer Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov and asked: “Georgy Vasilyevich, could you write a march?” He replied: “I wrote a military march in “Blizzard.” And then he smiled and said: “Of course, this is not a military march. It's just a topic. I couldn't write." I'm not at all sure that, for example, famous composer, but not an army man, can compose a march. I think that in order to create military music, you need to be in the bowels of the army, to absorb its rhythm. The march is characterized by a certain musical form: there is a motive that must be deployed “from above” and “from below”, there is a “trio”, in the second part there must be a contrast. It is important to take these nuances into account when creating a march. For example, symphonic or overture musical genres- these are detailed works, the creation of which requires large quantity time, concentration. To write such works, you need to study. But I don't have special education, but there are skills, abilities and desire. For me, creativity became more of a hobby; during my studies, I was a member of the military-scientific composition society, where I learned the basics of composing. This is my “training”. The commission accepted me into the Union of Composers quite famous musicians. I played two of my pieces and they told me: “That’s enough!” This means that this was enough to recognize me as a composer.
News Agency "Existence": What do you think is happening now with military music?
Khalilov V.M..: In the last five to seven years I began to feel that a real revival of military music in Russia had really begun. Firstly, in recent years we have received enough funds to begin updating the orchestras musical instruments. We have already completely “dressed” Moscow and St. Petersburg with new sets of excellent world-class instruments. And we continue to provide instruments to the orchestras of remote garrisons. After all, an instrument is the weapon of every musician. Secondly, in recent years we have held an All-Army Military Band Competition. For the first time in the history of the Armed Forces of the USSR and the Russian Federation, all military conductors gathered to exchange experiences and get acquainted with achievements in military music. And before that, for 15 years we had silentium (silence): instruments were not purchased, competitions and shows were not held, because funds were not allocated for this. The nineties passed, times were difficult.
News Agency "Existence": In your opinion, is there a difference between orchestras? Soviet Union and the Russian Federation?
Khalilov V.M..: We abandoned the repertoire that was implanted in us for many years: we don’t play now, for example, the song “My native country is wide.” I think that in choosing the works to be performed it is necessary to avoid ideological archaism; it is important to choose works that are of cultural value and correspond to the spirit of the times. At the same time, one cannot refuse masterpieces musical culture such as " Holy War» Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Look what happened: the music of the anthem of the Soviet Union remained the basis of the anthem of the Russian Federation. The words have changed, but the music remains. Because it's a masterpiece.
News Agency "Existence": Valery Mikhailovich, don’t you think that people are tired of modern music, of “pop”?
Khalilov V.M..: We all make up with you Russian people, I do not consider myself to be among the “elite”. After the service, I go down to the subway and become the same as everyone else, because in civilian clothes no one can discern that I am a general. I come home and hear on the radio or television modern music, and she depresses me. I am categorically against phonograms in any form. I can still understand performing with accompaniment, because sometimes an artist cannot take an orchestra with him from Moscow to the region. But he can sing with his own voice. Let it be a “backing track”, but when both the artist and the accompaniment are “not live” - I cannot understand it! A spectator comes to a concert in the hall, and, excuse me, he is fooled. As a professional musician, this offends me. The performer is obliged to show his skills.
News Agency "Existence": Which performers do you like?
Khalilov V.M.: I am attracted by real professional “revelations”, behind which there is work and love for music, truly conveyed. Recently Igor Butman told me this phrase about bards: “You may not be a poet, but you cannot be a musician!” Yes, bards are not musical professionals, and at the same time, I adore them: this music is quite serious, deep, interesting, where feelings are truly conveyed, through intimacy. And to me, bards, honestly, are more valuable than a professional who performs his music laboriously.
News Agency "Existence": In your opinion, what role does a military band play in the life of society?
Khalilov V.M.: Great critic Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov said: “Military orchestras are conductors not only of military music, but of all kinds of music, into the masses of the people.” Even before the revolution, before the era of radio and television, the military orchestra was a real cultural and musical center, whose tasks included not only providing the formation with military music or performing ritual protocol works, but also performing before the audience as a philharmonic society, playing at balls, in gardens and parks. Each regiment had its own anthem in the form of a march or some “quote” from a classical opera. Everyone used to love the music of the military orchestra. Remember popular works: “Amur waves”, “ Autumn dream", "On the hills of Manchuria", waltzes created, by the way, by military conductors.
News Agency "Existence": What quote do you say most often?
Khalilov V.M..: Words by Alexander Suvorov: “Music leads to victory - victory leads to glory!” Actually, I don’t build my life according to quotes or postulates. I am a believer. Of course, in life there are internal aesthetic norms, rules that I follow. I know that somewhere there is a line beyond which I cannot go, because there is a “black hole” that I am simply afraid to approach. And if you remember more quotes, I often turn to the lines of Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Music journalist Edda Zabavskikh, in an interview with Valery Khalilov, asked him in detail about his biography, attitude to music and career. Forbes Life publishes excerpts from this interview. Full text read in the upcoming issues of the Gala Biography magazine.
– It seems simply incredible to lead more than a thousand musicians, and even in such a huge space! Can you really hear every orchestra member?
Of course not, that's impossible. I have highly professional assistants, fellow conductors, who ensure that each group is clean and orderly and accurately conveys my signals.
- Probably colossal tension?
Rather, excitement, concentration and great composure, responsibility. Each such event is preceded by enormous preparation. You prepare for a long time, rehearse, but the event itself passes quickly. There remains a feeling of accomplishment. Or unfulfilled - something didn’t work out, I would like to do better...
- What distinguishes a military conductor from his civilian colleagues?
The profession of a conductor requires, in addition to musical talent, strong leadership qualities and communication skills. Not everyone talented musician can become a military musician. This requires a whole range of special qualities. Our main work is not in warm and comfortable concert halls, but on the parade ground, in camps, in formation on the streets and squares, in the wind and under the scorching sun, in the rain and in the cold. And therefore, excellent health and physical training are also required (to which considerable attention is paid during the period of study). In addition, a military conductor needs an extraordinary gift as an educator - he is also a commander for his military unit.
– But what attracts gifted musicians to military bands?
In addition to the love of music, there is the romance of the military profession. Here, with such a peaceful activity as music, you feel like a real man. After all, we are brought up according to the laws of the army - according to the regulations, in drill training. Since Suvorov's time, we musicians have been opening parades. I don’t remember being taught shooting, but as for drill training, social etiquette and military politeness, and most importantly, a sense of responsibility - this was always in the foreground. A military conductor is first and foremost a combatant; he stands in front of the orchestra, three steps ahead of everyone else.
- Is it difficult with musicians?
Today, young musicians are being driven away from wind instruments. New, lighter and more fashionable technocratic, electronic instruments have appeared. Our work is hard and the payoff is low. In addition, the oven - dangerous profession: lips, breathing are very vulnerable.
Not everyone can make serious music. This is hard work that requires continuous development. And yet, many people go to listen to Tchaikovsky’s symphony or Rachmaninov’s concerto. Our concerts are philharmonic in nature; we perform popular, but also academic and classical music. And we have a huge audience.
- Are your concerts in demand?
When I was appointed to the position, at first I did not know what to do with the team outside the formation. And a few years later I no longer know how to fight off constant offers to perform. The genre of brass music is environmentally friendly pure genre, and more and more people are drawn to it.
- Tell us about your family, childhood.
I was born in Termez in a military family - our family moved from place to place. The founder of our military musical dynasty, my father Mikhail Nikolaevich Khalilov, underwent his first professional training at the Tashkent School of Military Musicians.
Dad played the trumpet as a child, and he liked it very much. capable boy They advised him to go there, and he immediately enrolled. It was rare and very good school, many famous military musicians began their professional education there. Then he studied at the Faculty of Military Conducting in Moscow; upon graduation, dad was offered an orchestra in Germany, but he did not want to go to an unfamiliar country and asked to join Central Asia, whom he already knew well.
I was taken away from Termez very young, and another city remains in my memory - Dzhambul in Kazakhstan. In the summer it was incredibly hot there, and we boys ran around the city barefoot. There were ditches all around - canals for irrigating fields. The water in them was so clean that there were fish there. We caught minnows with our bare hands and fried them right on the hot roofs. Not because we were hungry - it was just interesting to take such loot ourselves practically in the center of the city. In Dzhambul, my father led an orchestra, whose concerts in the city were very popular. I think my craving for military music began already then.
And when the father was demobilized due to illness, the family returned to Moscow, to the mother’s homeland. Here I entered music school No. 7 named after Glier on Yakimanka. When I entered the fifth grade, I entered the Moscow Military Music School in Trinity-Lykovo (now it is Suvorov School in Teply Stan). A wonderful place: a river, a high steep bank, two temples. However, due to the dilapidation of the buildings, the school was later moved to Teply Stan. I think it's big loss: Trinity-Lykovo is a unique place. This not only fosters patriotism, but the environment itself contributes to the special formation of personality. I am lucky that I had the opportunity to study there. It’s especially sad that when our school left there, nothing was built there.
Unfortunately, the schools themselves for music students have been lost: in my father’s time there were eighteen of them in the country, but only one remains - which I graduated from. They taught us well, but with strict discipline. We lived in a barracks situation. For minor offenses and bad marks, they did not give a leave of absence, and on many days off I, instead of partying and relaxing, worked hard to correct my grades and my own shortcomings.
- And there were a lot of twos?
Happened, and often. There were excellent teachers and very high requirements - in fact individual training, especially in musical subjects.
We were taught not only professions, they cared about our horizons and a broad education. We knew very well German which we were taught at top level– I spoke completely freely. We were trained general culture, rules of behavior in society, good manners, ballroom dancing. They taught us everyday culture, in general, they trained us to be real officers. After all, an officer is not only a defender of the Motherland - he is the face of the army, he must have authority and be an example. The conductor of a military orchestra educates not only his orchestra members, but through them the entire personnel and all listeners.
- Well, what about love, girls? Are there really no romance novels?
Imagine, we only started looking at girls in high school. After all, we were in a barracks situation: seven years of barracks at school, then three out of five years of studying at the military conducting faculty at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory - also actually in the barracks.
Something changed only when I, already a fourth-year student at the conservatory, met my future wife.
- How did you meet, love at first sight?
We met her sister on vacation. Then I was invited to the house of new acquaintances, and there was a piano there. Naturally, I sat down for it. The piano is a sensual instrument, so I immediately captivated everyone. Of course: not just a cadet - how he plays! However, I also made an impression as a cadet. Everyone was asking about the shooting, military life. Well, of course, I boasted: yes, I say, I shot and threw grenades... Military science is interesting, and I think every young man should go through something similar: smell gunpowder, feel like a real defender. And I started talking about these topics, opened up about my own feelings - the girls’ eyes became round, their mouths opened... Then everyone left for school, but a correspondence with memories began. And when the sisters came to Moscow for the student winter holidays, we went to museums, theaters, and concerts together. This is where the interest in each other appeared. In 1974 they got married in Kyiv.
- How did your career develop after studying?
After graduating from the conservatory, I was already in lieutenant's uniform and assigned to the city of Pushkin. Leningrad region lead the orchestra of the Pushkin Higher Command School of Air Defense Radioelectronics. The most beautiful historical places, wonderful cultural traditions, interesting theatrical performances with the participation of our orchestra - everything encouraged creativity. There I began to actively compose music.
- And to this day Natasha is your only beloved wife?
Well, yes, the only one - but is it really necessary to have two or more? I was lucky right away: the woman had been living with me for so many years, and she didn’t leave me either because of my long hours of service or because of my difficult character. I'm capricious and demanding. You bring all your problems home from work, but your wife listens patiently and takes on all your emotions. And the whole house, children, grandchildren - everything is on it, and we are on everything ready. Natasha also worked in her specialty. Even during my first service in Pushkin, she found a place in the department at the local civil engineering institute.
- Are you involved in raising your grandchildren?
Literally from the cradle I take them to my concerts; from the age of three or four they listen attentively symphony orchestra. They like it. Even if they fidget and get distracted, this music secretly penetrates them, harmonizes them, and builds their personality.
- What about the continuation of the military conductor dynasty?
While it is being successfully continued by my brother Alexander, a colonel, also a composer, he teaches conducting at the department of military orchestral service of the Moscow Military Commission. His son, my nephew, is also a graduate of the Military Conservatory. But I have girls. However, young grandchildren and even granddaughters, almost from the cradle, love to walk in formation and conduct - “like a grandfather”...