A COMPOSER LASTING FOR EVER

After the Bolshoi Theatre had been restored, it opened its new season with Arif Mali-kov's ballet "Legend of Love" in a new production by Yuriy Grigorovich. The production was staged seven times, and a book on the life and career of the composer was published to coincide with the opening of the season. They say that, even if the tickets had been sold a year in advance, it would have been impossible to see the ballet all the same. It began its triumphal guest tours around the theatres of the world immediately after the premiere which took place at the Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet [now the Mariinsky Theatre] in Leningrad [now St. Petersburg]. More than 50 years later it has been staged at 65 theatres around the world, but "Legend of Love" keeps on touring the planet just as before.

People's Artiste of the USSR and Azerbaijan, full member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Cavalier of the Heydar Aliyev and "Istiqlal" Orders are just a few of the titles and awards that our outstanding fellow-countryman, professor and composer Arif Malikov holds.

He has composed eight symphonies, three ballets, seven symphonic poems, the vocal and symphonic poems "Motherland" to the words of Tofiq Bayram, the cantatas "Voices of the Earth" to words by Vaqif Samadoglu, 13 suites, the operetta "Waves", two cycles of romances for voice and orchestra set to the poems of Nazim Hikmet, chamber and instrumental music, film soundtracks and music and songs for theatre shows. The works of the Azerbaijani composer have been performed in many countries: Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France, Japan, Brazil, Austria, Norway, Finland, Italy, Egypt, Thailand and others, and also in the former Soviet republics. In an interview with Regionplus, Arif Malikov spoke about his life, his career and his future work plans.

- Maestro, who among the composers influenced your career and creative signature most of all?

- I was born in Baku, although not into a musical family, but where art pervaded everything. My mother was a woman of letters and was an excellent kamancha player. In order to become a musician I studied the tar at the Asaf Zeynalli Music College in Baku. Then I spent a year working in Susa [Shusha, Karabakh], one of the musical cities in Azerbaijan. This is when I started to write my first compositions. When I returned to Baku, I continued my education in Qara Qarayev's composition class at the Conservatory. Who influenced me? First and foremost, it was the world classics, and well, of course Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky, and Qara Qarayev. By nature I am a writer of symphonies, and therefore my diploma work was the First Symphony.

-Then came the 11th Symphony which I dedicated to the greatest composer of modern times, Dmitri Shostakovich, my so-called grandfather. For in the East they say "A teacher is a second father", but the maestro was the mentor of my teacher Qara Qarayev, so it turns out that I am legally a grandson. And, although numerous reviews and comments have piled up throughout my life, the first one left an indelible mark on me. "I congratulate you, I am pleased about your dedication and am proud of it…" Dmitri Shostakovich wrote. I wrote my third symphony for the Chamber Orchestra of Yugoslavia, at their request.

- How does the creative process happen? Does it happen smoothly or is it difficult? Does the signature and style change from composition to composition?

-It varies… Sometimes it is easy and simple to compose things, but there are times when creating something is a pain and takes a long time to do. You usually think of a concept, define a structure and a creative design, you determine the content you want and form certain images. Only God knows how many trends and tendencies there are in nature open to composers now, you just have to know how to work with them.

- How do you compose music, with an instrument or without one?

- If I am on a flight to Brazil at 21.00 hours or to Brazil at 12 o'clock, and suddenly an idea crops up, I make rough copies of the music and leave them for working up later, since valuable time should not be wasted. There was a case when I couldn't tear myself away from the instrument and composed a piano concerto in a month, without leaving the composition class where the portrait of my teacher, Qara Qarayev, hangs and where I am still steeped in his aura. Only the assistant teacher Ceyhun brought a computer into the Conservatory for me to make the recordings. I slept on the chairs in the classroom. This concerto for piano and orchestra was played by Adelya Aliyeva who had come from Germany and my assistant Ceyhun Allahverdiyev, who is a splendid pianist.

- Which of your compositions do you like the most?

- Since the creative process is ongoing, it is hard to say, but the ballet "Legend of Love" and the 8th Symphony come top at the moment…

- They say that the story of the 7th Symphony's creation is an interesting one…

- A Turkish doctor, the wealthiest person on the planet, an educationalist and patron of the arts, Ihsan Dogramaci, who built two university campuses in Turkey, suggested that I should write a symphony and promised to erect a huge concert hall consisting of 120 classes on a patch of wasteland. The 7th Symphony was ready a year later, and a splendid concert hall costing more than 6.5m dollars was built. The premiere of this composition which was dedicated to Ihsan Dogramaci took place in that magnificent concert hall.

- The story relating to the composition of the unusual 8th Symphony called "Eternity" is just as interesting

-In 1994, Heydar Aliyev invited me to accompany him to Saudi Arabia as a member of his delegation, to see the Kaaba, visit the house of the Prophet Muhammad, kiss the sacred black stone and go through the entire ritual of the Hajj. He saw the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which is the dream of every Muslim. It was there that wonders took place, after visiting the grave of our prophet at dusk and praying on our knees at the new temple [mosque], where one million pilgrims are praying simultaneously; suddenly the multi-coloured roof of the temple opened and we saw the endless starry sky.

In another part of the temple, as if out of the ground, a grandiose flower sprouted, whose petals lower, opening a view of the twinkling stars. It was amazing! And a person understands what a tiny particle of eternity he is. Then Heydar Aliyev addressed me: "I wanted you to see all of this and to be inspired by it to write a major symphonic work." That was said in Saudi Arabia, in the centre of the world Islam. The greatness of Heydar Aliyev was that he was a person who was looking to the future, was always excited by the idea of eternity. And this is something I strive to realise in my works. When I returned from Saudi Arabia, I began to think about the concept and gather together material for this work, but it took me several years to write.

I first spoke about the symphony dedicated to Heydar Aliyev at a jubilee soiree for Mstislav Rostropovich at the "Republic" Palace, which was subsequently named after Heydar Aliyev. I wanted to time the performance of the symphony to coincide with the leader's 80th birthday. But his death meant that this event was postponed, and the symphony was not performed until his 81 birthday in May 2004. The premiere was attended by President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva. The first part of the symphony contains the philosophical verses of Nazim Hikmet. One orchestra was missing for the second part.

In the recording, state-of-the-art musical means of expression are used to layer another two orchestras on top of the orchestra playing. When the music suddenly stops, another piece of music grows out of the silence which has been written for the poem "Azerbaijan" by the poet Almas Ildirim. The piece ends with the piano - this is the departure to eternity. After the symphony ends, silence should reign, so that the audience can think about eternity, and this is also part of the music.

- As a master of the Azerbaijani school of composition, what do you think standard of our professional music is today?

-There is no need to worry about our music today, in spite of the fact that many irreplaceable great musicians are no longer with us such as Qara Qarayev, Niyazi, Fikrat Amirov, Covdat Haciyev and Soltan Hacibayov. Talented young musicians have come to take their place who are currently studying at the Azerbaijan Conservatory, as well as on post-graduate courses in Turkey, Holland, Italy and other countries

- Do people bring children to you to test whether they have a good ear?

- There have even been some curious incidents when the father of a two-year-old boy thought he was destined to be a great composer, and the parent of a four-year-old girl, who could only press two keys on the piano was sure she would be a future concert pianist.            

- Arif muallim, what do you pay attention to first and foremost during the class?

- I ignore the shortcomings and try to spot the virtues which can be further developed.

- If you constantly have music in your head, do you want to switch it off and can you manage to do that?

- I most certainly can, since the brain constantly reacts to the things going on around it.

- Who of your pupils today is actively engaged in creating new works? Do you have successors who share your creative aspirations?

-There is my assistant Ceyhun Allahverdiyev who has written two piano concertos, a sonata for piano and has also orchestrated music. He is a splendid pianist and he has his own students in the composition class. At the composers' competition in the USA Ali Qambarli presented an orchestral composition and received an award. My former student Kamala Alizada has returned from Italy where her new symphonic works were successfully performed at her own concert by a philharmonic society.

- What advice would you give to young musicians?

- Work harder, strive for perfection, don't be lazy about rewriting a composition. Make a more in-depth study of the sources and traditions of folk music, first and foremost mugham. That will bring excellent results. Work more and sleep less. The brain works more intensely at night. In a period of intense work I do not sleep more than four hours per day. If God has given you talent, it is your responsibility to justify what you are destined to do and you should do that.

- How did you come to write soundtracks and what part do you think music plays in films, do you consider it secondary?

- I am commissioned to write soundtracks. I have worked with film studios in Central Asia, have written music for the Tajik six-part film series "Shahnama". I think great attention needs to be paid to music in films, it should not just be regarded as an accompanying element. I have written music for the soundtracks of many films, including "The Stars don't Go Out", "The Magic Dressing Gown", "Nocturnal Murder" and others.

- Why has one of the best ballets on the world stage, "Legend of Love", disappeared from repertoires in our theatres?

- The heyday of the Axundov Theatre of Opera and Ballet is over, when our ballet was famous throughout the world. We need to improve the professional standard of the performers, to create better living conditions for the artistes, to bring up a generation of creative young people and then we shall reap the benefits.

- Are you always satisfied with the interpretation of your music? Whom do you trust to perform your works?

- At one time, the Niyazi-Arif Malikov creative tandem existed. Niyazi performed all my major compositions, and I couldn't have wished for a better performer. For me he was a mentor, an enormous school and ultimately an idol. At that time the Mariinsky Theatre offered him the job of conductor and I went on tour with him. At the same time, my works were brilliantly performed in the theatre under the baton of the talented conductor Rauf Abdullayev. I trust the top-class professionals, including the choreographer Yury Grigorovich, the conductors Vladimir Fedoseyev and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

- "Eternity", the book about you, features reproductions of your oil paintings. Well, if God really has endowed you with talent, then it is not just one gift…

- There are triptychs for the "Eternity", "Zaqulba", "Favourite Flowers", "Cauca-sus Mountains", "Black Gold of the Caspian", "The Orient" and other symphonies. In my own ballet "The Poem of Two Hearts" I am not only the author of the libretto, but also the assistant to the artist Solmaz Haqverdiyeva. Based on the work by the well-known Uzbek writer Sharaf Rashidov, the ballet was first staged in 1982 in Tashkent and [the Russian city of] Kuybyshev simultaneously. In this eastern legend of love between the dancer Komde and the singer Modan, the ending is a tragic one with both main characters perishing. But I invented an unusual ending. Their bodies are brought onto the stage on outstretched arms and they appear to shoot upwards into space where they continue their everlasting dance of love. It turns out that love is everlasting.

- What is the composer working on today?

- I am in the process of writing the 9th symphony and the ballet "Joseph the Splendid and Zuleyha"

- Do you enjoy playing the tar when you have a few minutes free?

- My tar is hanging on the wall above the piano in my office and serves as a source inspiration in creating new compositions…

- What does it mean to be Arif Malikov?

- It means being the son of his people. I am proud that I am an Azerbaijani and of my "Legend of Love". All the best that I have I owe to my people, to my land.

- Arif Cahangirovich, New Year is not far off. Allow us to wish you a Happy New Year and to wish you good health and many new pieces of music!