Interview. Maxim Paster."Self-irony on the verge of insanity"

28.05.2014

Interview. Maxim Paster."Self-irony on the verge of insanity"

A series of performances of Verdi’s "Un ballo in maschera", where Maxim Paster sang Ricardo’s part, ended in Helikon-opera. Today we chatted with Maxim about the theater, creativity, his outlook...

- I met Dmitry Bertman just two years ago. Of course, we have heard about each other. He saw me in the role in the part of Shuysky in Alexander Sokurov's "Boris Godunov". And I wanted to work with him as a director. We negotiated. Initially we talked about my performance in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann", but unfortunately , I got seriously ill. Now I am very sorry that I did not sing in this performance , as my encounter with Offenbach’s music was only in concert rather than in stage incarnation. But I hope for a future meeting, if fated.

So, my collaboration with "Helikon" began with Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera". I've never sang Ricardo before, it was a premiere for me.

- Let's go back to the part of Shuysky. For many years in Russia and abroad you are participating in various productions of "Boris Godunov".

- Yes, in this role I debuted in 2004 in a production by Leonid Baratov at the Bolshoi Theatre. Then there was Sokurov’s production. And in 2011, Baratov’s performance was restored again on the historical scene. And this season I have been introduced to Helikon-opera’s perfomance.

Alexander Sokurov produced his "Boris Godunov" with me in the first cast and gave me unlimited freedom for improvisation as Shumsky. It was an interesting approach, but not easy for me as an actor. In Sokurov’s version Godunov and Shumsky are two equal power figures. Bertman tells another story: they are the two friends. In Baratov’s performances they are the two rivals. In all productions Shuysky is different and simultaneously the same because he always turns in power in the final. "Boris Godunov" was the first opera, which I knew by heart when I was 16. Of course, I wanted to be Pimen, but I didn’t manage the bass, so from a humble monk I turned into something more.

I had three foreign productions. In Dresden I worked with a bass René Pape. But the aesthetics of this production was profoundly alien to me: a dirty room, wallpapered with a double-headed eagles and bruises, a complete misunderstanding of the musical dramaturgy of Russian opera. The second play in Bologna director Tony Servillo was different, I was singing from a 12-meter height. And there was a production by Hugo de Ana in Chile. There I sang with Alexei Tikhomirov. Godunov’s image with his stick, his aquiline nose, long hair was inspired by Cherkasov’s image from the film "Ivan the Terrible" by Eisenstein. And we were asked to walk on the carpet, with a face of Christ on it. All Russian artists refused to walk on the icon, we bypassed around. Only Alexey had to work reluctantly, as all his scenes were in the center of the mat.

Modern theater tends to principle of transfer in time, leather coats, office suits, mobile phones, but Russian opera often resists such methods. And to make your staging of Russian historical opera successful, you need to know the history, the reasons for which certain events happened. I'm not talking about such productions as "Eugene Onegin" or "Iolanta", I 'm talking about the historical opera. To move "La Traviata" in time is much easier than for example "Prince Igor". Most western operas are built on feelings , love triangles , but our opera also speaks of a deep historical context. And if the director understands the context, and then the contemporary realities will look justified, and if he does not, then the historical Caps of Monomakh will be only museum exhibits.

- In our theater "Boris Godunov" is performed in Dmitri Shostakovich edition, were there any the principal vocal differences for you?

- Before entering Helikon’s production I sang all editions of "Boris Godunov". In author's version of Mussorgsky, in Rimsky-Korsakov’s. Edition of Shostakovich affects the orchestration mainly, not my part. I didn’t experience vocal difficulties. I was much more interested to feel how the director saw my character and his relationship with Boris. I was struck by the scene of Boris and Shuysky, "Have you ever heard that dead children come out of the coffin...", we laughed in the final on the words "to question the legitimated kings". But that's Bertman’s direction, he comes from a musical drama, he puts the contrasts he sees in the characters passion and feeling, not the contours and outlines. My Ricardo’s role in "Un ballo in maschera" only strengthened me in understanding Dmitry Bertman’s directing method. A person denounced with power is on the verge of insanity after a fortune teller Ulrica prophesied him to die soon and suddenly there is a tone of self-irony : «E scherzo od follia siffatta profezia», the text itself prompts the move – is it a joke or a crazy prediction. How else you can still play it?

- Maxim, the fact that you feel Dmitry Bertman as a director, is absolutely clear to me. And did you manage to feel the atmosphere of this season in Helikon-opera and to understand what kind of audience comes to the theater?

- The atmosphere of the theater is created by its people, no ermine mantle ever grows up behind the shoulders of people, who have national titles. All of us sincerely congratulate each other after the show. And the spectator is special. Generally, each theater has its audience. Except the Bolshoi Theatre as it is a theater where everyone should go at least once in life, this is a kind of museum for visitors of Moscow. This is a historic site. No matter what kind of operfromance is there, but if you're in Moscow, it is necessary to get to the Bolshoi.

Helikon-opera spectator selflessly devoted to this theater. I realized this at a concert to the birthday of the theater. A spectator about thirty years old sat in the front row and applauded, I saw tears in her eyes and a glowing look. A question lighted in my head: what thing happened that caused such a storm of emotions in the person? I realized that it was the birthday of the intimate creature for her! And this is the perfect unique phenomenon in the modern theater world.

Interviewed by Irina Plotnikova

Photos by Denis Ryabtsev