Leonid Malev Biography

Mar ending the interview. For the success of the collective - heavy painstaking work and severe discipline. About the plans of the Aleksandrov ensemble, the tears of the Pope John Paul II and the heavy work of the collective inspectors, the director of the twice red-banned academic song and dance of the Russian Army named after A. Alexandrov Leonid Malev told the chief of the Prague Telegraph, Natalya Sudlenkova.

Ansamle, which today is known as the “Aleksandrovites”, was created in order to support the morale of the military. And then he became a powerful ideological weapon of the Soviet Union not only in the military sphere. You - the former political instructor - also from the same sphere? We all survived the era of ideology. But each country has its own ideology, without it is impossible.

Ideology is a reflection and continuation of the cultural traditions of the peoples living in a particular country. The founder of the ensemble Alexander Alexandrov, who was a talented composer and skilled leader of the choir, created a team who could surprise all of Europe. The very first tour of the “Aleksandrovtsev” in France caused the enthusiasm of the public.

Since then, they began to say: "The ensemble of the Red Army is singing." And the phrases “ensemble of the Red Army”, “Aleksandrov ensemble” remained, passing through many years. And today, ideology also determines the repertoire of the “Aleksandrovtsy”? What ideology today? The main thing today is high quality, the highest professionalism. People, first of all, choose high quality regardless of ideology.

This applies to both the purchase of a car and the purchase of tickets for a concert. We win quality. At our concerts, people come to listen to wonderful songs, and there is no ideology behind this. And how can the ensemble manage to maintain such a quality with such a stormy touring activity, because the rehearsal process should not be interrupted? And not interrupted. Firstly, in our hall there is an inspector in all performances, who constantly monitors the action on the stage.

The inspector has a notebook in his hands, a pen, and he writes everything - who did not behave like that, who did not take a note, who was late with the entry, who was not so bowed ... Then this is all analyzed and understands rehearsals. When a person comes across violations several times, receives a reprimand.

And for violation of discipline on the stage, it can be deprived. He said something in a whisper on stage, and that's it, goodbye a prize? Why talk on stage? The form always obliges. And the form on the stage obliges doubly. The viewer came to the hall to rejoice and admire. The shape of the participant in our team must be cleaned and ironed, it himself must be fit, because discipline begins from this.

And we are constantly following this. But you can't discipline the viewer? Probably annoying when the late ones come into the hall? We always start concerts on time. We have already accustomed the audience to this. And in Poland, and in Slovakia, and in the Czech Republic they often say on the radio: “Please do not be late for the concert. Therefore, in Brno, all the audience sat in their places exactly in Ust-Sna Labem, there were a lot of late for the concert, we started on time, but in order to not disappointed people, we extended the first compartment for 15 minutes.

Did it happen that the "Alexandrovites" could not stir the hall? I usually jokingly say: we are doomed to success! I can’t say, I have not seen tears. But he asked to move him in a chair closer to the stage and at the end of the performance said very flattering words to the Aleksandrov ensemble. He thanked the leadership of the ensemble and artists for the excellent performance, for the joy that he was brought, thanked by the leadership of our country for the fact that there is such an ensemble and preserved it.

And what did the ensemble performed in the Vatican? Our classic repertoire is “Holy War”, “Kalinka”, “Victory Day”. We also performed the song "Red Macs on Monte Casino." This is a Polish song, it is dedicated to the second Polish corps, which in May of G. Corps then lost more than nine hundred people. This song is very popular in Poland. There are a lot of choirs in Russia, and the “Aleksandrovtsy” are alone.

What makes the "Aleksandrovtsev" exceptional? Why alone? There are quite a few interesting groups, but the Aleksndrovites are unique in its popularity. Why is the Aleksandrovtsy a brand, but there are no others in level? I am pleased that you think so. Firstly, we have good traditions that were laid down by Alexander Alexandrov. And they do not leave, but are supported in a team.

Secondly, the success of the ensemble is in painstaking work, the selection of the composition of the ensemble itself, a hard discipline, knowledge of the repertoire ... This is the components of the professional level, when people of the highest class are selected, when they know their repertoire when conductors do their job highly professional. Everything is going to a single spring that shoots on stage.

And then ... we are doomed to success ... Do you sing jazz? When necessary, we sing. All producers are looking for moments that are interesting to the viewer.The main thing is not to spoil a good classics, otherwise you can make a laughing stock from it, and it will be inconvenient. What else are you going to do in the near future? Cook something unusual? Now we are developing a new project.

Its essence is as follows: each song has its own biography, its own story, and we, unfortunately, know little about the history of these songs. For example, "Holy War." This work first sounded on June 26. The ensemble performed with a concert before those who left for the front. The commanders and fighters of the Red Army were escorted by wives, sisters, mothers ... Alexandrov set the pace, and the song began.

She sounded for the first time. At first there was a silence, and then an explosion of applause, people demanded to fulfill it again, then again, and yet, and you can no longer remember how many times it was. It was a concert of one song. Or, for example, the song "Smuckle". It was written even before the war, in the m year, and became popular in m. Of course, this is very interesting.

But how are you going to tell these stories to listeners at concerts? We will make such a concert in Moscow for high school students and for students with the involvement of our famous theater and cinema artists, such as Dmitry Pevtsov, Dmitry Dyuzhev and others who will briefly, within one or half-way, tell the story of the song, and then this song will sound, then the next ...

The concert will be built on such a literary and combination material, it will not be just performing songs, but thematic accompaniment concert. It will be very useful for young people, high school students, they, in fact, will study the history of their country through songs. Aleksandrova was created in the city of the organizer and the first musical director was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory named after Tchaikovsky, People's Artist of the USSR, composer, Major General Alexander Alexandrov, who headed the team for 18 years.

From July 10, in G. in the repertoire of the ensemble of more than two thousand works- songs of domestic authors, folk songs and dances, spiritual music, classic works of Russian and foreign composers, masterpieces of world rock and pop music.