Polina Osetinskaya is a world-renowned pianist, with a busy performance schedule and her own perspective on the contemporary art world. All of this seems like a natural consequence and position, rightfully earned. But behind Osetinskaya lies the tragic story of a child prodigy whose successes were applauded by the USSR and the world, but few knew the price of that success.
How did Osetinskaya manage to survive the rise and not crash during the fall? What is the price of fame at a young age, how much time does it actually take for deep childhood wounds to heal, and can they ever heal completely?
We talked to Polina Osetinskaya about the difference between Brahms and Desyatnikov, about chasing after Svyatoslav Richter and having a country retreat with Bella Akhmadulina, about patriarchy in classical music, the simple human happiness from five-hour practice sessions, and the complex feeling of guilt towards her children, as a performing mother.
And also about why no man in her life has ever been able to win over Johann Sebastian Bach in Polina Osetinskaya's heart.
#polinaosetinskaya #tellgordeeva
Content:
0:00 Why does Polina Osetinskaya give a concert at a hospice every year?
5:17 "I suffer when I play this instrument, but I can't not play it"
6:51 Advertising that develops intelligence
9:15 What does composer Tikhon Khrennikov have to do with the Estonia piano that Osetinskaya has been playing since childhood?
13:03 "Violence is necessary" - how Osetinskaya's father raised her
15:26 "He could hypnotize and brainwash any person" - Polina about her father
17:29 "Running away from home was better than poisoning dad"
18:56 Advertising where they'll do everything for you
21:19 Osetinskaya about loneliness: "I had to do something to be loved"
24:17 "It's completely unproductive to keep going on your wounds and resentment" - how Polina works with her trauma
25:50 "I chased after Richter when I was 7 years old"
31:18 How did Polina end up in a boarding school with living parents?
38:31 The House of Creativity for Composers in Repino: Bella Akhmadulina, Avdotya Smirnova, Leonid Desyatnikov, Alexei Goribol, Arkady Ippolitov, Shura Timofeevsky, and others
43:07 "He was our red Lyoenchik" - about Leonid Desyatnikov
45:06 "She only saw the best in people" - about Bella Akhmadulina
47:34 "Compared to what we heard in 1987, I'm disappointed. She didn't become a great musician" - what fans of her "childhood" work say about Osetinskaya
51:31 "She became the adult for me who replaced everyone for me" - about her teacher Marina Veniaminovna Wolf
54:57 Polina plays music "for herself." Spoiler: it's Rameau
59:03 "I fell under the piano" - why Polina didn't give up playing music
1:01:26 "You could have already given birth three times, gotten married, played, and you're still asked what it was like to be a child prodigy"
1:05:24 "We tried to reconcile over the last 30 years" - about meeting her father before his death
1:09:45 "You can forgive everything if you're ready to forgive"
1:11:18 "Church life has nothing to do with feeling God within you"
1:16:27 "I tried to create a perfect family model with my husband for 8 years"
1:22:08 "I'm very similar to my father in my relationship with my children"
1:25:28 "After two political performances, I was deprived of all my concerts at once"
1:31:23 Pianist Osetinskaya's playlist
1:33:23 Who Osetinskaya would choose between Brahms and Desyatnikov
1:41:07 "Music is a gift from God"
1:42:24 Gordeeva's favorite pianists (men and women!)
1:42:59 "Classical music is a world of brutal patriarchy"
1:46:58 Blitz
Polina Osetinskaya:https://www.facebook.com/polina.osetinskaya
Katerina Gordeeva: https://www.instagram.com/catherinagordeeva/