Lev oborin. Oborin, Lev Nikolaevich

One of the masters of the “golden age” of Soviet pianistic art, Lev Oborin, was born in Moscow in 1907. His parents, although they did not have professional music education, often played music at home with their family. Leo was interested in literature, languages, theater, and since childhood he showed interest in painting and sculpture. As a child, he heard the pianist Scriabin. This left an imprint on his entire future fate.

From his youth, he began taking piano lessons from Elena Gnesina, and after graduating from the Gnessin School at the age of 14, he was admitted to the Moscow Conservatory (in the piano class and composition class).

The gifted pianist was very lucky with his teachers. Igumnov recommended and tried to reveal “his” repertoire, which would be close to the pianist, and Myaskovsky ultimately influenced Oborin to stop being an active composer in favor of a piano career. As Lev Nikolaevich himself said, in Myaskovsky’s class, while working on his compositions, he realized that working with “other people’s” works was easier and simpler for him, and the composer’s “intention” was more clearly visible.

But to this day, some of Oborin’s works have still been preserved, for example, a cycle of pieces for piano, a trio for violin, viola and piano, romances to the words of A.A. Akhmatova, V.V. Kazin and A.A. Fet, “Fantastic scherzo "for symphony orchestra.

Many future famous pianists came from Igumnov’s class - Maria Grinberg, Rosa Tamarkina, Naum Shtarkman and others. Against their background, Lev Oborin did not get lost at all, and it soon became clear that he was rightfully chosen as Igumnov’s student.

Since his first year at the conservatory, Oborin (by the way, an excellent student) has been actively giving concerts and improving his repertoire. Big influence the teacher influences him. The pianist himself noted that Igumnov literally forced him to pay attention to the works of Rachmaninov.

At the same time, by the end of the conservatory, Oborin’s personal style as a performer took shape. Prone to deep analysis of a composition, the pianist brings integrity, clarity of concept, and intellectuality to his playing. And at the same time, he copes with technical difficulties easily, even playfully. As contemporaries noted, this was not “feigned simplicity.”

The third facet of Oborin the pianist is subtle lyricism. As a student of Igumnov, Oborin was interested romantic repertoire, in which Lev Nikolaevich was able to reveal his talent as a pianist-lyricist with fast and light hands. But “...He was an artist of a truly Russian type - in his character, appearance, attitude, artistic tastes and attachments. It was simply impossible not to feel all this in his art,” as musicologist Gennady Tsypin noted.

Lev Oborin's repertoire can be divided into two parts. The first is a classic of the Russian school of composers: Tchaikovsky, Lyadov, Rachmaninov, “” . And the second is works. Oborin turned to Chopin's music more often than others and always noted for himself the value of this composer.

It is with the name of the “great Pole” that the main triumph in the career of Oborin as a pianist is associated. In 1927, Lev Nikolaevich won the first prize for the USSR and first prize at an international music competition in Warsaw. For the pianist this was the beginning of a brilliant international career. But this might not happen. The pianist learned the competition repertoire three weeks before the start of the competition, but managed to concentrate and prepared the program together with Igumnov. What’s interesting is that, together with Oborin, he was sent to the competition as a pianist in the delegation and, already enough famous composer(at the competition he will only receive a diploma).

A resounding victory awaited Lev Oborin in Warsaw. This victory became a landmark not only for him, but for all Soviet pianists. Oborin was the first - he opened the “road” for pianists to international competitions and, by his example, proved that Soviet musicians could compete with the West.

In February 1927, when news of Lev Oborin’s victory arrived in Moscow, an author’s concert was taking place in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The concert was interrupted to announce that Moscow Conservatory gold medalist Lev Oborin had won First Prize. Prokofiev was so impressed by this fact that he even wrote about it in his diary.

Subsequently, Prokofiev dedicated his own to the pianist. Oborin and he will become its first performers.
Lev Oborin, after winning the competition (at the age of 21), was invited to teach at his alma mater, becoming one of the youngest teachers in the entire history of the university, and remained a teacher until the end of his life. Oborin the teacher raised many worthy students - Tigran Alikhanov, Mikhail Voskresensky, and many others. Students noted his intelligence, demandingness towards pets and very careful study the material being studied.

During the Great Patriotic War Lev Nikolaevich, like many artists, as part of front-line brigades, travels with performances to fronts and units, where he performs in front of the defenders of the Motherland. It is during these trips that another thing happens landmark event in the life of a pianist: the chamber ensemble Oborin–Oistrakh–Knushevitsky is formed.
The very first joint appearance on stage was surrounded by great success, and this success did not leave the ensemble until the end of their performances (after the death of Knushevitsky in 1963, the ensemble disbanded).

In the ensemble, Oborin received a new vector of development. He was able to move away from virtuoso solo pieces and began playing ensemble sonatas by Shostakovich, Beethoven and many other authors. The recording of Beethoven's ten sonatas for violin and piano, where David Oistrakh played with Oborin, is considered a reference.

Great erudition and interest in various types art (Oborin took lessons from himself, was friends with many outstanding people of his time - Meyerhold, Garin, artists, physicists, sculptors) helped the pianist to be convincing in any repertoire, and the deepest knowledge of the subject and education became the basis of his teaching style.

Lev Nikolaevich Oborin was awarded many awards, including foreign ones.

The pianist died in 1974 and is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, together with his wife, O.N. Oborina.

The pianist's archive is located in RGALI.

In 2007, a film was made about him documentary"The first from the land of the Soviets." A monograph has also been written about the work of Lev Oborin; a chapter in the reference book “Portraits of Pianists” is dedicated to him.

In 2017, the 110th anniversary of the birth of L.N. Oborin is celebrated.

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B.Ya. Zemlyansky writes: “A lot can be written about his game. Pianist top class. Execution perfection. Ultimate skill. Powerful musical intelligence. The rich sound palette always remains within the limits of grace and beauty. The plasticity of the playing is amazing, the sound texture is clear. Dynamics and energy never came into conflict with the purity and completeness of the form.

The game was striking in its calculation, down to the smallest, subtle details; everything in it was weighed. The technique is impeccable, which was greatly facilitated by the very structure of his hands, as if deliberately adapted to piano playing.

Wide, plump, soft hand. Airy, transparent pianissimo, many timbres. The cantilena under his fingers came out plastic and melodious. The tempo rubato itself was barely perceptible - it was so skillfully done, it was natural and necessary. Piano and forte had different timbres. Voices were easily distinguished orchestral instruments, sometimes a whole orchestra could be heard. I used the pedal a lot and calculatedly... A colossal musician artistic culture…»

Lev Nikolaevich Oborin was born on September 11, 1907. He grew up in the Moscow family of a prominent railway engineer, Nikolai Nikolaevich Oborin, who was no stranger to music.

“My father passionately loved music, and although, as a communications engineer, he was forced to wander from place to place, he always tried to get a piano and gather amateurs to play music,” Oborin said in an interview. “I started learning to play the piano at the age of nine and had time to develop my technique and accumulate a repertoire. IN early age It is still difficult to determine the musical prospects of a child. The nature of musical abilities is capricious: Dmitry Shostakovich, until the age of nine, had no attraction to music lessons I didn’t find it.”

The parents wanted their son to become a doctor or lawyer. The boy dreamed of becoming a violinist. Oborin passed the initial stages of his pianistic education at the Gnessin School from 1916 to 1921. Here the solid foundations were laid not only of his pianism, but, perhaps, of his artistic worldview.

“When I first came to the Gnessin school, the head of the school, Elena Fabianovna Gnesina, did not find any clear talent for pianistic training in me,” the musician later recalled. - And indeed, I had weak, clumsy hands. But very little time passed, and it turned out that piano technique was very easy for me...

My education was not limited to lessons. I began attending concerts early, sometimes together with my first teacher E.F. Gnessina. It even seems to me that such systematic concert experiences decided my fate.

I remember in the winter of 1917 I heard Sergei Rachmaninov play. He performed his Second Piano Concerto at the Moscow Zona Theater - where the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall is now located. It was an unforgettable experience. Imagine my happiness when, after the concert, Elena Fabianovna took me to Rachmaninov, who, as you know, loved children very much.

Rachmaninov kindly asked me about my studies, and I confessed to him that I was composing music. The composer promised to listen to my compositions. I waited a long time for the meeting and for many years I retained joy and pride in my soul: “The great Rachmaninov himself spoke to me.” Could I study poorly after this? Such impressions mean more than any exhortations.”

In the fall of 1921, Leva entered two faculties of the Moscow Conservatory at once - composition and piano.

“For a long time I could not decide who to be: I wanted to become a composer, and, perhaps, such a desire was stronger than my pianistic desire. All my friends were composers: V. Shebalin, M. Quadri, D. Shostakovich. My entire youth was marked by a passion for composing music and diligent compositional studies under the guidance of N.Ya. Myaskovsky. Some of my compositions were published and performed in concerts. Now no one remembers this, and over time I myself had the courage to realize the extent of my talent as a composer. But if I started life all over again, I would repeat my youthful path with a passion for creativity. No, no time was lost. Maybe Chopin's genius, the essence, the form, musical language What helped me understand his compositions was the fact that I myself composed music, learned the complexities of composer’s work and the peculiarities of composer’s thinking.”

Oborin's debut performance took place in Leningrad on the very eve of the new year, 1925. In the serious program of this concert, far removed from “virtuosic fervour,” the pianist included both the cycle “Whims” by Myaskovsky and the “Quasi-sonata” by Shebalin, who was still a student at the conservatory at that time.

In 1926, Oborin completed his studies at the conservatory. In the spring of that year, having brilliantly played his diploma program, he immediately took a place in the first row of Soviet pianists. Two years later, Oborin was enrolled as an assistant in Igumnov’s class.

When, at the end of the final exam, Gnesina, warmly congratulating her former pupil, predicted world fame for him, few imagined that this would come true so soon. However, already in 1927 Oborin won the international Chopin competition in Warsaw.

True meaning Warsaw victory young musician great. After all, this was the first entry of Soviet pianism into the international arena. Only one of the jury members, the famous Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, on the whole the jury listened to them rather with prejudice.

Oborin's performances in all three rounds of the competition were triumphant. The joy with which this was received in our country is understandable. “The news that the “little Bolshevik” (as one Warsaw newspaper called him) received the first prize and a gift from the President of the Polish Republic was reported in Moscow from the stage Great Hall during what was happening symphony concert and aroused enthusiasm,” recalls A.A. Alschwang.

Oborin's success at the competition was all the more honorable because his closest rival was one of the most talented Polish pianists, Szpinalski.

For Oborin himself, Karol Szymanowski’s review was very dear: “If we talk about the Russian pianists who recently performed here in Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lviv, Poznan and Vilna, they simply conquered our musical world. They came, they played, they won. This cannot be called a success, or even a sensation. It was a continuous victorious procession, a triumph!.. This especially applies to young Oborin.”

After the competition, Oborin gave several concerts in Poland. He performed there the following season as well. Everywhere he met a warm reception from the public and the same reviews in the press. Oborin toured the entire Soviet Union with concerts.

CM. Khentova writes: “Oborin’s technical improvement was noticeably stimulated in the 30s.

Not a single significant phenomenon remained outside the attention of Oborin. Observing, he changed the usual, looked for something new.

His virtuoso repertoire expanded. Interest in works of extreme technical difficulty became more and more noticeable. The concerts constantly featured: Liszt's transcriptions, rhapsodies, "Don Juan", "The Marriage of Figaro", "The King of the Forest", Second Rhapsody, "Mephisto Waltz".

The culture of the Igumnov school protected Oborin from extremes. The pianist did not lose his sense of proportion. Criticism only occasionally noted in his playing an exaggeration of the speed of tempo and a certain acceleration of sonority.

Gradually, Oborin developed an individual piano technique that corresponded to his way of thinking, tastes, and character. This technique was not characterized by power, pressure, elasticity, or external shine.

Avoiding sweeping movements, Oborin sparingly used the weight of his arm. Attention was directed to the development of the hand and the sensitivity of the finger pads. The pianist easily achieved extreme fluency and clarity, but at the same time each passage sounded melodious and melodic.

Having mastered in short term many secrets of mastery, Oborin gradually began to lose interest in virtuoso literature. In Liszt's Second and Spanish Rhapsodies he focused on folk motifs And sound painting. With enthusiasm, the pianist began work on Liszt’s “Years of Wanderings” cycle. In the interpretations of Liszt’s plays “On Lake Wallenstadt”, “On the Bank of a Stream”, “The Valley of Oberman”, “Venice and Naples”, Petrarch’s Sonnet (Label major) the best properties of Oborin’s pianism were perfectly manifested: sincerity, warmth, clarity.

At the end of the 30s, Oborin stopped special technical training for some time, concentrating his attention on new tasks of replenishing the repertoire.”

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War coincided with the creation of the famous trio Oborin-Knushevitsky-Oistrakh. Throughout the following winter, the musicians practiced regularly, forming a repertoire for concerts.

For Oborin, work in the ensemble became an integral and very important part for many years. creative life. All members of the trio were similar in their creative sympathies, method, and nature of art. The musicians themselves also constantly emphasized the beneficial nature of mutual influences.

“Since 1935,” writes D. Oistrakh, “my close friendship began and collaboration with the wonderful pianist Lev Nikolaevich Oborin. Communication with this great musician, man high culture enriched me very much. Together with him we spent many happy hours playing chamber works great masters of the past and present."

In the 1950s-1960s, the trio received European recognition. In 1948, Oborin got married. A modest artist became a lifelong friend children's theater, who did not belong to the usual musical circle. In 1950, their daughter was born.

With the end of the war, Oborin began intensive solo tours abroad: Vienna (1945), Warsaw (1946), Berlin (1947), then Weimar, Leipzig, London, Paris, Marseille and a two-month trip to Japan. Gradually, foreign concerts are becoming a common part of touring work. Their geography expanded. Oborin performed in Italy, Sweden, Greece, Albania.

For almost four decades, Oborin has given three and a half thousand concerts, he has played approximately eight hundred works of piano literature!

Trips follow one after another. The breaks between them are devoted to classes in the piano class of the conservatory.

Oborin began pedagogical work at the Moscow Conservatory in 1928. In 1930, he was assigned to independently teach a chamber ensemble class. In 1931, he became an assistant professor at the Igumnovsky department, and in 1935 he received the title of professor. Pedagogical activity Oborin ended in December 1973, on the eve of his death.

More than two hundred musical “children” and “grandchildren” of Oborin worked in musical educational institutions and concert organizations of the country. Among his students are G. Rozhdestvensky, A. Khachaturyan, B. Zemlyansky, V. Ashkenazi, M. Voskresensky, E. Miansarov, A. Bakhchiev, D. Sakharov, G. Sirota, A. Egorov, A. Selivokhin, E. Novitskaya, L. Dedova, A. Sevidov and many other famous musicians.

L. Dedova wrote: “I happened to be among the last students of Lev Nikolaevich Oborin. I entered his class in 1969 and studied for almost five years - until his last days. These years were extremely happy - I had the invaluable opportunity to communicate with a man of rare nobility, intelligence and talent.

Alien to any pomposity, he was natural and simple with people, endearing him with goodwill and gentle humor.

With the enormous respect and respect that I felt for Oborin, with all Lev Nikolayevich’s ability to keep his distance while remaining a professor, a master, it was always easy and free with him. He behaved quite evenly and reservedly with his students, did not praise too much, but also scolded somehow harmlessly, never humiliating them, and always found encouraging words.”

In his sixth decade, Oborin suffered a severe attack with complex symptoms, defined by doctors as a deep heart attack. However, the musician did not give up and continued to work. In the winter of 1963, Oborin spent almost two months in Japan.

Here he performs in joint concerts with Aram Khachaturian and Leonid Kogan. For the first time, Khachaturian's new piano sonata is being performed abroad, and the piano concerto is being performed with especially great success.

“I don’t necessarily strive to stun listeners with something new,” said Oborin. - I find joy in reviving classic, well-known works in music of the XIX centuries, in romance. Concerts are my life. When, while playing, I notice pleasure on the listener’s face, it gives me the greatest joy and satisfaction.”

“Oborin’s artistic and purely personal characteristics are in complete, extremely harmonious correspondence,” writes D.A. Rabinovich. - He developed as a person very early. Marked by the stamp of high intelligence, sensitive and receptive to all types of art, and at the same time impeccably educated (however, without a shadow of flaunting “good manners”), calm and restrained, friendly to others, far from any emotional excesses - this is Oborin in life.

Similarly, on the stage he does not philosophize, does not “prophesy,” does not try to come up with anything that differs in any way from the generally accepted norms of interpretation, just as he does not strive to stun the audience with external bravura. Oborin's specialty lies elsewhere. Whether he is performing a Chopin ballad or pieces from Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" cycle, Rachmaninov's concertos or "The Hunt" from the Paganini-Liszt etudes, his playing is always characterized by a warm and restrained affability - like the stamp of a friendly, polite smile.

Figuratively speaking, Oborin the pianist is associated with an interlocutor - tactfully eloquent, able to quickly and easily respond to the proposed topic, who is endearing not with an indispensable desire to penetrate into the “secrets of the universe” and not with a cascade of paradoxes, but with the charming grace of his calmly relaxed speeches. Good taste and a sense of proportion are inherent in Oborin high degree. In particular, this is why his playing leaves an impression of harmony, like a building with precise proportions.

Oborin's emotionality is direct, open to everyone. The pianist is endowed with a lively temperament, but without unbridledness, without shocking exaggerations. Oborin is more characterized by excitement than ardor. His colors are not violent oils or fragile chamber watercolors; rather, these are pastels - warm and soft in color.

Attractive power Oborin's games are not about power, but about charm. And in the lyrics themselves, elegance is closer to him than intense tragedy.”

Lev Nikolaevich Oborin was the first Soviet artist to win the first victory in the history of Soviet musical and performing arts at an international competition (Warsaw, 1927, Chopin Competition). Today, when the ranks of winners of various music tournaments march one after another, when new names and faces constantly appear in them, of which “there are no numbers,” it is difficult to fully appreciate what Oborin did 85 years ago. It was a triumph, a sensation, a feat. Discoverers are always surrounded with honor - in space exploration, in science, in public affairs; Oborin opened the road, which was followed brilliantly by J. Flier, E. Gilels, J. Zak and many others. Winning first prize in a serious creative competition is always difficult; in 1927, in the atmosphere of hostility that reigned in bourgeois Poland towards Soviet artists, it was doubly, triply difficult for Oborin. He owed his victory not to a happy accident or to anything else - he owed it solely to himself, to his great and extremely charming talent.

Oborin was born in Moscow, in the family of a railway engineer. The boy’s mother, Nina Viktorovna, loved to spend time at the piano; his father, Nikolai Nikolaevich, was also a great music lover. From time to time, the Oborins hosted impromptu concerts: one of the guests sang or played, Nikolai Nikolaevich in such cases willingly acted as an accompanist.

The future pianist's first teacher was Elena Fabianovna Gnesina, well known in musical circles. Later, at the conservatory, Oborin studied with Konstantin Nikolaevich Igumnov. “This was a deep, complex, unique nature. In some respects it is unique. I think that attempts to characterize Igumnov’s artistic individuality with the help of one or two terms or definitions - be it “lyricist” or something else of the same kind - are generally doomed to failure. (And the youth of the conservatory, who know Igumnov only from isolated recordings and from individual oral testimonies, are sometimes inclined to such definitions.)

To tell the truth,” Oborin continued the story about his teacher, “Igumnov was not always as smooth as a pianist. Perhaps he played best at home, with his loved ones. Here, in a familiar, cozy environment, he felt easy and at ease. At such moments he played music with inspiration, with genuine passion. Moreover, at home, on his instrument, everything always worked out for him. At the conservatory, in the classroom, where sometimes a lot of people (students, guests...) gathered, he could no longer “breathe” so freely at the piano. He played here quite a lot, although, to be honest, he didn’t always do everything equally well. Igumnov used to show a piece he was learning with a student not from beginning to end, but in parts, fragments (those that were currently in work). As for his performances before the general public, it was never possible to predict in advance what this performance would become.

There were amazing, unforgettable clavirabends, spiritualized from the first to the last note, marked by the finest penetration into the soul of music. And along with them, there were uneven performances. Everything depended on the moment, on the mood, on whether Konstantin Nikolaevich managed to control his nerves and overcome his excitement.”

Contacts with Igumnov meant a lot in creative destiny Oborina. But not only them. The young musician was generally, as they say, “lucky” with his teachers. Among his conservatory mentors was Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, from whom the young man took composition lessons. Oborin did not have to become a professional composer; later life simply did not leave him such an opportunity. However, creative activities while studying gave famous pianist a lot - he emphasized this more than once. “Life turned out in such a way,” he said, that I ended up becoming an artist and teacher, and not a composer. However, recalling my younger years now, I often wonder how beneficial and useful these attempts at composing were for me then. The point is not only that by “experimenting” at the keyboard, I deepened my understanding of the expressive properties of the piano, but by independently creating and practicing with various textural combinations, I generally progressed as a pianist. By the way, I had to study quite a bit - I couldn’t not learn my pieces, just as, say, Rachmaninov didn’t teach them...

And yet the main thing is different. When, putting aside my own manuscripts, I took on other people's music, the works of other authors, the form and structure of these works, their internal structure and the very organization of the sound material became somehow much clearer to me. I noticed that then I began to delve much more consciously into the meaning of complex intonation-harmonic transformations, into the logic of the development of melodic ideas, etc. In other words, the composer’s experience (albeit small, but still experience), direct acquaintance with the “hides” creative laboratory creating music provided me, the performer, with invaluable services.

One curious incident from my life often comes to mind,” Oborin concluded the conversation about the benefits of composition for performers. “Once in the early thirties, I was invited to visit Alexei Maximovich Gorky. It must be said that Gorky loved music very much and felt it subtly. Naturally, at the request of the owner, I had to sit down at the instrument. I played a lot then and, it seems, with great enthusiasm. Alexey Maksimovich listened attentively, resting his chin on the palm of his hand and not taking his intelligent and kind eyes off me. Suddenly he asked: “Tell me, Lev Nikolaevich, don’t you compose music yourself?” No, I answer, I used to be interested in it, but now I just don’t have time - traveling, concerts, students... “It’s a pity,” says Gorky, “if nature has given you the gift of a composer, you need to take care of it - it’s a huge value. And in performing, it would probably help you a lot...” I remember that I, a young musician, was deeply struck by these words. You can’t say anything - wisely! He, a man so far from music, so quickly and correctly grasped the very essence of the problem - performer-composer».

The meeting with Gorky was just one in a series of many interesting meetings and acquaintances that befell Oborin in the twenties and thirties. At this time he was in close contact with Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Shebalin, Khachaturian, Sofronitsky, Kozlovsky. He was close to the world of theater - to Meyerhold, to the Moscow Art Theater, and especially to Moskvin; He had strong friendships with some of those named above. Subsequently, when Oborin becomes a renowned master, critics will write with admiration about internal culture, invariably inherent in his performance, that one can feel the charm of intelligence in him in life and on stage. Oborin owed this to his happily established youth: family, teachers, fellow students; Once in a conversation he said that in his youth he had an excellent “nutrient medium.”

In 1926, Oborin graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with flying colors. His name was engraved in gold on the famous marble Board of Honor decorating the foyer of the Small Hall of the Conservatory. This happened in the spring, and in December of the same year a prospectus for the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw was received in Moscow. Musicians from the USSR were invited. The problem was that there was virtually no time left to prepare for the competition. “Three weeks before the start of the competition, Igumnov showed me the competition program,” Oborin later recalled. “My repertoire included about a third of the mandatory competition program. Training in such conditions seemed pointless.” Nevertheless, he began to prepare: Igumnov insisted and one of the most authoritative musicians of that time, B. L. Yavorsky, whose opinion Oborin respected to the highest degree. “If you really want to, you can perform,” Yavorsky told Oborin. And he believed.

In Warsaw, Oborin showed himself to be extremely successful. He was unanimously awarded first prize. The foreign press, without hiding their surprise (it was already mentioned above: it was 1927), spoke enthusiastically about the performance of the Soviet musician. The famous Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, assessing Oborin’s performance, uttered words that at one time made the rounds in newspapers in many countries around the world: “Phenomenon! It is not a sin to worship him, for he creates beauty.”

Returning from Warsaw, Oborin begins an active concert activities. It is growing: the geography of his tours is expanding, the number of performances is increasing (he has to leave the composition - there is not enough time or energy). Oborin’s concert work is especially widespread in post-war years: besides Soviet Union he plays in the USA, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Japan, and many other countries. Only illness interrupts this non-stop and rapid flow of tours.

Those who remember the pianist in the thirties speak with one voice about the rare charm of his playing - artless, full of youthful freshness and spontaneity of feelings. I. S. Kozlovsky, talking about young Oborin, writes that he amazed with “lyricism, charm, human warmth, some kind of radiance.” The word “shine” attracts attention here: expressive, picturesque and figurative, it helps to understand a lot about the musician’s appearance.

And there was one more thing that captivated me - its simplicity. Perhaps it was Igumnov’s school, perhaps the peculiarities of Oborin’s nature, his character (most likely, both), but he, as an artist, had amazing clarity, lightness, integrity, and inner harmony. This made an almost irresistible impression on the general public, and even on the pianist’s colleagues. In Oborin the pianist they felt something that went back to the distant and glorious traditions of Russian art - they really determined a lot in his concert and performing style.

Works by Russian authors occupied a large place in his programs. He wonderfully played “The Seasons”, “Dumka” and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. You could often hear Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” as well as Rachmaninov’s works - the Second and Third Piano Concertos, preludes, etudes-pictures, “ Musical moments" It is impossible not to recall, touching on this part of Oborin’s repertoire, his enchanting performance of Borodin’s “Little Suite”, Lyadov’s Variations on a Theme of Glinka, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 70 A. Rubinstein. He was an artist of a truly Russian type - in his character, appearance, attitude, artistic tastes and affections. It was simply impossible not to feel all this in his art.

And one more author must be named when talking about Oborin’s repertoire - Chopin. He played his music from his first steps on the stage until the end of his days; he once wrote in one of his articles: “The feeling of joy that pianists have Chopin never leaves me.” It is difficult to remember everything that Oborin played in his Chopin programs - etudes, preludes, waltzes, nocturnes, mazurkas, sonatas, concertos and much more. It's hard to list What he played, it’s even more difficult to give a performance today, How he did it. “His Chopin - crystal clear and bright - completely captured any audience,” admired J. Flier. It is no coincidence, of course, that Oborin experienced his first and greatest creative triumph in his life at the competition, dedicated to memory great Polish composer.

In 1953, the first performance of the duet Oborin - Oistrakh took place. A few years later, a trio was born: Oborin - Oistrakh - Knushevitsky. Since then, Oborin has become known to the musical world not only as a soloist, but also as a first-class ensemble player. From a young age, he loved chamber music (even before meeting his future partners, he played in a duet with D. Tsyganov, and performed together with the Beethoven Quartet). Indeed, some features of Oborin’s artistic nature - performing flexibility, sensitivity, the ability to quickly establish creative contacts, stylistic versatility - made him an indispensable participant in duets and trios. On the account of Oborin, Oistrakh and Knushevitsky it was listed great amount the music they replayed - works by classics, romantics, and modern authors. If we talk about their peak achievements, then we cannot help but mention Rachmaninov’s cello sonata in the interpretation of Oborin and Knushevitsky, as well as all ten Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano, performed at one time by Oborin and Oistrakh. These sonatas were performed, in particular, in 1962 in Paris, where Soviet artists were invited by a famous French record company. Within a month and a half, they captured their performance on records, and also - in a series of concerts - introduced it to the French public. It was not an easy time for the famous duo. “We really worked a lot and hard,” D.F. Oistrakh later said, “we didn’t go out anywhere, refrained from tempting walks around the city, refusing numerous hospitable invitations. I wanted, returning to Beethoven’s music, to rethink it again (and counting!) overall plan sonatas, experience every detail. But it’s unlikely that the audience, having attended our concerts, had more fun than we did ourselves. We enjoyed every evening when sonatas were played from the stage, we were endlessly happy listening to the music in the silence of the studio, where all the conditions were created for us to do this.”

Along with everything else, Oborin also taught. From 1931 until the last days of his life, he stood at the head of a crowded class at the Moscow Conservatory - he raised more than a dozen students, among whom there were many famous pianists. As a rule, Oborin actively toured: he traveled to various cities of the country and spent a long time abroad. It so happened that his meetings with his students were not too frequent, not always systematic and regular. This could not, of course, not leave a certain imprint on the activities in his class. Here one did not have to count on everyday, caring pedagogical care; The “Oborinites” had to figure out a lot themselves. Apparently, such a learning situation had both its pros and cons. We are talking about something else now. Infrequent meetings with the teacher are somehow special were highly valued his pets - this is what I would like to focus on. They were valued, perhaps, more than in the classes of other professors (even if no less eminent and honored, but more “household”). These meeting-lessons with Oborin were an event; they prepared for them with special care, waited for them, it happened, almost like a holiday. It is difficult to say whether there was a fundamental difference for a student of Lev Nikolaevich in performing, say, in the Small Hall of the Conservatory at one of the student evenings or playing for his teacher a new piece learned in his absence. It's a heightened feeling responsibility before the show in the class was a kind of stimulant - potent and very specific - in classes with Oborin. He determined much in psychology and educational work his wards, in relationships with the professor.

There is no doubt that one of the main parameters by which success can and should be judged teaching activities, Connected with authority teacher, the measure of his professional prestige in the eyes of his students, the degree of emotional and volitional influence on his students. Oborin's authority in the class was unquestionably high, and his influence on young pianists was extremely strong; This alone was enough to speak of him as a major pedagogical figure. People who communicated closely with him recall that a few words dropped by Lev Nikolaevich sometimes turned out to be more weighty and significant than other most magnificent and flowery speeches.

A few words, it must be said, were generally preferable to Oborin than lengthy pedagogical monologues. Rather a little reserved than overly sociable, he was always rather taciturn and stingy in his statements. Various kinds of literary digressions, analogies and parallels, colorful comparisons and poetic metaphors - all this was the exception rather than the rule in his lessons. Speaking about the music itself - its character, images, ideological and artistic content - he was extremely laconic, precise and strict in his expressions. There was never anything superfluous, unnecessary or distracting in his statements. There is a special kind of eloquence: to say only what is relevant and nothing more; in this sense, Oborin was truly eloquent.

Lev Nikolayevich was especially brief during rehearsals, a day or two before the performance that was scheduled for the pupil of his class. “I’m afraid to disorient the student,” he once said, “to at least in some way shake his faith in the established concept, I’m afraid to “scare off” the living performing feeling. In my opinion, in the pre-concert period, it is best for a teacher not to teach, not to instruct a young musician again and again, but simply to support and encourage him...”

Another characteristic moment. Oborin’s pedagogical instructions and comments, always specific and targeted, were usually addressed to what was associated with practical side in pianism. With the performing action as such. How, for example, to play this or that difficult passage, simplifying it if possible, making it easier technically; what fingering might be most suitable here; what position of the fingers, hands and body would be the most comfortable and appropriate; what tactile sensations would entail the desired sound, etc. - these and similar questions were most often asked foreground Oborinsky lesson, defining its special constructiveness, rich “technological” content.

It was extremely important for the students that everything that Oborin said was “provided” - like a kind of gold reserve - by his vast professional performing experience, based on knowledge of the most intimate secrets of the pianistic “craft”.

How, say, to perform a piece with an eye to its future sound in concert hall? How to adjust sound production, nuances, pedaling, etc. in this regard? Advice and recommendations of this kind came from the master, many times and, most importantly, with his own hand who tested all this in practice. There was a case when, during one of the lessons held at Oborin’s home, one of his students played Chopin’s First Ballad. “Well, that’s not bad,” summed up Lev Nikolaevich, having listened to the work from beginning to end as usual. “But this music sounds too chamber, I would even say “roomy,” in your music. And you have to perform in the Small Hall... Have you forgotten about this? Please start again and take this into account..."

This episode, by the way, brings to mind one of Oborin’s instructions, repeatedly repeated to his students: a pianist playing from the stage must have a clear, intelligible, very articulate “reprimand” - “well-delivered performing diction,” as Lev Nikolaevich put it at one of classes. And therefore: “More bolder, larger, more defined,” he often demanded at rehearsals. “A speaker speaking from the podium will speak differently than face to face with his interlocutor. The same goes for a concert pianist who plays in public. The whole hall should hear it, and not just the first rows of the stalls.”

Perhaps the most potent remedy in the arsenal of Oborin the teacher has long been show(illustration) on the instrument; only in last years, due to illness, Lev Nikolaevich began to approach the piano less often. In terms of its “working” priority, in terms of its effectiveness, the method of demonstration, one might say, was superior to the verbal explanatory method. And the point is not even that a specific demonstration on the keyboard of one or another performing technique helped the “Oborinites” in working on sound, technique, pedaling, etc. The teacher’s demonstrations and illustrations, a living and close example of his performance - all this carried with it something more significant. Lev Nikolaevich playing the second instrument inspired musical youth, opened up new, previously unknown horizons and perspectives in pianism, and allowed them to inhale the exciting aroma of the big concert stage. This game sometimes aroused something similar to “white envy”: it turns out that How And What can be done on the piano... It happened that showing this or that work on the Oborinsky piano brought clarity to the most difficult performance situations for the student, cut the most confusing “Gordian knots”. In Leopold Auer’s memoirs about his teacher, the wonderful Hungarian violinist J. Joachim, there are the lines: “The only remark he made after playing a place that failed for a student was: “You must play So! ", accompanied by an encouraging smile" (Auer L. My school of violin playing. - M., 1965. P. 38-39.). Similar scenes often took place in Oborin’s class. Some pianistically complex episode was played, a “standard” was demonstrated - and then a summary of two or three words was added: “In my opinion, so...”

So, what did Oborin ultimately teach? What was his pedagogical “creed”? What was the focus of his creative activity?

Oborin introduced his students to a truthful, realistic, psychologically convincing transmission of the figurative and poetic content of music; this was the expression of the alpha and omega of his teaching. Lev Nikolayevich could talk about different things in his lessons, but all this ultimately led to one thing: to help the student delve into the innermost essence of the composer’s plan, realize it with his mind and heart, enter into “co-authorship” with the creator of music, and embody his ideas with maximum conviction. and persuasiveness. “The more fully and deeply the performer understands the author, the greater the chance that in the future they will believe the performer himself,” he more than once expressed his point of view, sometimes varying the wording of this thought, but not its essence.

Well, to understand the author - and here Lev Nikolaevich spoke in full agreement with the school that raised him, with Igumnov - meant in the Oborin class to decipher the text of the work as carefully as possible, to “exhaust” it completely and to the bottom, to reveal not only the main thing in the musical notation, but also the most subtle nuances composer's thoughts recorded in it. “Music, depicted with signs on music paper, is a sleeping beauty, it still needs to be disenchanted,” he once said among his students. In terms of textual accuracy, Lev Nikolayevich’s requirements for his students were the strictest, not to say pedantic: nothing approximate in the game, done hastily, “in general,” without due thoroughness and accuracy, was forgiven. “The best player is the one who delivers the text more clearly and logically,” these words (attributed to L. Godovsky) could serve as an excellent epigraph to many of Oborin’s lessons. Any sins against the author - not only against the spirit, but also the letter of the interpreted works - were regarded here as something shocking, as a performing “bad manners”. With all his appearance, Lev Nikolaevich expressed extreme displeasure in such situations...

Not a single seemingly insignificant textured detail, not a single hidden undertone, a joined note, etc. escaped his professionally keen eye. Highlight with auditory attention All And all in an interpreted work, Oborin taught, the essence is to “recognize”, comprehend this work. "For the musician hear- Means understand“he said during one of the lessons.

There is no doubt that he valued manifestations of individuality and creative independence in young pianists, but only to the extent that these qualities contributed to the identification objective patterns musical compositions.

Lev Nikolaevich’s requirements for his students’ playing were determined accordingly. A musician of strict, one might say, purist taste, somewhat academic in the fifties and sixties, he resolutely opposed the subjectivist arbitrariness in performance. He treated everything that was overly catchy in the interpretations of his young colleagues, claiming to be unusual, shocking with external originality, not without prejudice and wariness. So, one day talking about problems artistic creativity, Oborin remembered A. Kramskoy, agreeing with him that “originality in art from the first steps is always somewhat suspicious and rather indicates narrowness and limitation than broad and versatile talent. A deep and sensitive nature at first cannot help but be carried away by everything that has been done well before; Such natures imitate...”

In other words, what Oborin sought from his students, wanting to hear in their playing, could be characterized in terms: simple, modest, natural, sincere, poetic. Spiritual exaltation, somewhat exaggerated expression in the process of playing music - all this usually offended Lev Nikolaevich. He himself, as they said, both in life and on stage, at the instrument, was restrained and balanced in his feelings; approximately the same emotional “degree” impressed him in the performance of other pianists. (Once listening to the too temperamental performance of one debuting artist, he remembered the words of Anton Rubinstein that there should not be a lot of feeling, there can only be feeling in moderation; if there is a lot of it, then it is false...) Consistency and correctness in emotional manifestations, internal harmony in poetics, perfection technical performance, stylistic accuracy, rigor and purity - these and similar ones performing skills evoked an invariably approving reaction from Oborin.

What he cultivated in his class could be defined as an elegant and subtle musical professional education, instilling in his students impeccable performing manners. At the same time, Oborin proceeded from the conviction that “a teacher, no matter how knowledgeable and experienced he may be, cannot make a student more talented than he is by nature. It will not work, no matter what is done, no matter what pedagogical tricks are used. The young musician has a real talent - sooner or later it will declare itself, it will come out; no - nothing can help here. Another thing is that it is always necessary to lay a solid foundation of professionalism for a young talent, no matter how large it is measured; introduce him to the norms of good behavior in music (and maybe not only in music). This is the direct duty and responsibility of the teacher.”

In such a view of things there was great wisdom, a calm and sober awareness of what a teacher can do and what is beyond his control...

For many years, Oborin served as an inspiring example, a high artistic model for his younger colleagues. They learned from his art and imitated him. His victory in Warsaw, we repeat, stirred up many of those who later followed him. It is unlikely that Oborin would have played this presenter, on principle important role in Soviet pianism, if not for his personal charm, his purely human qualities.

This is always given no small importance in professional circles; hence, in many respects, the attitude towards the artist and the public resonance of his activities. “There was no contradiction between Oborin the artist and Oborin the man,” wrote Ya. I. Zak, who knew him closely. “He was very harmonious. Honest in art, he was impeccably honest in life... He was always friendly, benevolent, truthful and sincere. He represented a rare unity of aesthetic and ethical principles, a fusion of high artistry and deepest decency" (Zak Ya. Bright talent // L. N. Oborin: Articles. Memoirs. - M., 1977. P. 121.).