Multimedia ‘Nevsky’: Russian Classic Goes High-Tech

High technology continues to find new application in the arts. Ten years ago, the idea of synchronizing a live performance of Prokofiev’s carefully written music with a screening of Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 film masterpiece “Alexander Nevsky” would have seemed an eccentric pipe dream.

Yet tonight at Hollywood Bowl, the Eisenstein-Prokofiev collaboration will be presented just that way with Yuri Temirkanov conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale. In addition, a sound track of Russian dialogue, charging horses and clashing swords is supposed to be synchronized with the film and music, as well as English subtitles.

Despite all the technical wizardry and previous success with the event, many fingers are crossed because of the unique outdoor environment at the Bowl.

“The hardest part is the straitjacket of synchronizing the music with the film,” said Christine Cairns (pronounced with a long a ) in the lobby of her Hollywood hotel. The 30-year-old Scottish mezzo-soprano will sing the solo song that occurs toward the end of the movie in the presentation tonight.

“We have to make sure everything fits and that sometimes prevents us from using rubato or taking liberty with the tempos,” she said. “If the music gets a little bit behind the picture, we have to speed up and if we go ahead, we have to slow down.”

Cairns has sung the solo part of this version of “Alexander Nevsky” at every performance since it was premiered in October of 1987 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Andre Previn. That success led to several subsequent presentations of the multimedia event in other cities with other orchestras.

“But I get a little emotional when I am here in Los Angeles because this is where it all started for me,” she said. “John Currie (director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale) first introduced me to Previn and suggested me for the ‘Alexander Nevsky’ solo when they were doing a concert version of the ‘Nevsky’ cantata in 1986 and later, a recording. It was the first real break in my career.”

Cairns first met Temirkanov when she performed the work with him in Philadelphia. Their collaboration there met with great critical success, one critic describing it as a “pulsating, supercharged account of the score.” Another critic pointed out that Temirkanov “fit the playing so skillfully to the pace of the film that the matter of synchronization did not loom, even momentarily, as a hazard of performance.”

Other performances in Cleveland with conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy tested the waters for outdoor performances, adding a certain drive-in-movie-like atmosphere to the event. If all goes well, Cairns plans to travel to London and Pompeii with the production.

She is especially careful not to express favoritism for one conductor over the other, but did mention that Previn’s preliminary work on the score before the 1987 performance laid out the necessary groundwork for the other conductors.

“Previn’s work as a film composer and conductor for so many years obviously gave him insight into the process of putting something like this together,” she said. “But in addition to his film expertise, his interpretation of Prokofiev is simply magical.

“The advantage that the Russian conductors (Temirkanov and Ashkenazy) have is that they understand the dialogue and can therefore follow the movie better,” said Cairns, who does not speak Russian. She learned her part phonetically and now performs it from memory.

“Temirkanov’s interpretation is also wonderful,” she added carefully.

Another steadfast devotee to this project is producer John Goberman, who worked on the original Los Angeles premiere as well as the performances in Philadelphia and Cleveland.

“This has never been done before--not like this,” said Goberman. “There are live scores performed to silent pictures all the time, but none like this with a sound movie and great music like Prokofiev’s.”

Goberman explains that a four-track magnetic recording is used. Two of the tracks are used for the dialogue and sound effects. Another track operates slide machines which flash English subtitles below the screen, translating the rapidly moving Russian dialogue. The final track operates a special clock mounted to the conductor’s music stand. A computer program controls these various functions.

Prokofiev’s re-orchestrated Cantata was used with supplemental orchestrations and sequences added by William Brohn. The sound effects on the original sound track were also enhanced.

“The necessity of this project rests on the special collaboration between Eisenstein and Prokofiev,” said Goberman. “It wasn’t just a matter of Prokofiev scoring the movie. Some parts of the film were made to follow Prokofiev’s music as well.

“Originally the sound track was very garbled, poorly recorded. That’s why we need to use a set-up like this to experience the work as it was originally imagined.”