Jubilee Evening for V. B. Rivkin

Epigraph:

The concert is coming to a clo-

I, without haste, a hymn-song sing

About you, V. B., dear soul!

Having entered your sixth decade,

You reached no trivial heights

In Jewish weddings and fiddlers.

And ever since, our Khor Domashniy

Sings your praise, without asking you,

Vadim Borisovich, dear soul!

Having entered your seventh decade,

You grasped the soul of the Rabbit,

Describing all its frantic flights.

And that is no mere hocus-pocus.

And the tale turned out well,

Vadim Borisovich, dear soul!

Having entered your eighth decade,

With biblical wisdom, to the brim,

You filled an amphora of octaves.

And we wish you to keep on creating,

Sinning with no false note,

Our dear V. B., dear soul!

After the second "Nord-Ost" we plunged for two months into the musical world of V. Rivkin, who turned 70 in April 2016. We very much wanted to celebrate worthily the jubilee of a company member we all respect and love. Preparing a programme of the composer's works in secret from him, of course, did not work. First, because choruses sound incomplete without his mighty voice. Second, we did not have enough material for a whole evening. As a result the programme (with the approval of the jubilarian) turned out rich and varied. It included choruses and duets from his operas, romances, and children's numbers performed by the children who took part in the second "Nord-Ost". There were so many people eager to sing romances that we even had to rein in their enthusiasm, fearing the evening would be overloaded.

The first "pancake" was baked at the Sadovnikovs' home, a kind of rehearsal before the official evening at the "Samovar" club. After the concert, Vadim's brother Viktor, a jazz musician, played the saxophone and people happily danced. And the next day, despite the planned "formality," everything was very spontaneous and heartfelt. Thank you, music of Vadim Borisovich!