Episode Transcription: 

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roxo media house
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[Music]
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welcome to the show folks this is
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fortitude the Cliburn series we have a
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special guy in the studio today Brinton
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Arseniy Gusev he’s from st petersburg
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russia he’s 23. he’s been living in
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cleveland for the last four years but he
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just participated in the Cliburn
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competition and he’s joining us on the
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show we want to get to know this guy a
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little bit welcome Arseniy thank you
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pleasure to be here yes thank you um
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where have you been living the last four
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weeks or so
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well uh uh for last four years i was in
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cleveland and uh recently i was so
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fortunate to get to know that he’s been
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bunking up with me at home you can you
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can be honest now no it’s it’s been it’s
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been such a pleasure and uh
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really one of the best host families i
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could ever wish for and he made us
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homemade borsch the other day delicious
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what is in it
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lots of beets oh yeah the vegan is was
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it difficult is that is that that
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typically it’s usually cooked with meat
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so i had to fake some things yes
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did you use some type of um what’s it
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called the impossible meat or something
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like that just beets
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when i mean beets it’s just beets
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there’s a couple other things
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yes it was wonderful i’ll bet that we
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quickly went off to our own rooms after
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that uh meal
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i don’t know what you’re talking about
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back to the guest arsenii so thank you
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for being here uh tell us about your
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childhood st petersburg when did piano
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become part of your life well it was
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quite early i was five and uh
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which has happened to be
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uh you know in this center of the city
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we were
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fortunate with having
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friends musicians uh and one of these
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friends brought an upright piano to my
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apartment our apartment and i was
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immediately curious uh
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started experimenting with it and my
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grandmother asked me if i would like to
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go to music school after that and i said
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that i would be so interested and i
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would love to learn how to play
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uh
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did she just watch you she you were just
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captivated by this person playing the
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piano in the apartment in in some ways i
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uh
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i wanted to compose something first so i
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i didn’t
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start playing right away but i
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i was fascinated with a couple of poems
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at that time and one of them was written
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by pushkin
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famous russian poet and uh i felt like
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it would be wonderful to put it on music
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so i uh played a little it’s you know on
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this poem and
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then
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i was asked if i would like to go to
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music school after that or send he knows
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who pushkin is he’s very in russian
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poetry so
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he’s good there pushkin
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i can’t even remember not not even not
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even piano piano was there you also
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started composing at early ages correct
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right that’s that’s right yeah ellis was
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very passionate about
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writing something very nice ultimately
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he led you to the st petersburg
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conservatory where you studied
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composition and piano correct yes and
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you’re your professor there
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uh i also went to a special music school
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of conservatory where it’s one of the
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advantages i think we have in
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russian early education as well as you
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know in uh some other countries we have
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this very early music education which is
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very systematic so you go to uh classes
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like almost in
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general education school
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except uh many subjects are actually
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related to music so you get exposed to a
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lot
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of um
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deep you know uh yeah tradition and
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culture
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how many hours a day so like of general
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studies how many hours and then how many
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hours let me think it’s it of course
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it’s uh
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changes it changes from year to year uh
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in the beginning it was something
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maybe five hours
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a day and uh two or three of them would
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be
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musical subjects two of them would be
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general subjects
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and then it would be change changing
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from year to year but also uh that would
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not include any of the playing because i
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would still have to practice and i would
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have uh ensemble classes to play with
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other uh students okay how was how was
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your childhood arsenii describe your
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childhood for us st petersburg well i i
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i’m very thankful to have uh
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very supportive and very
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inspiring parents at the same time i uh
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mentioned before that um
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they are actually no they’re not
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musicians but they’re both artists my
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mom is a choreographer dancer and my
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father is film critic and film director
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so i heard a lot of different kinds of
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music since i was very little
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and they would always support
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many you know explorations i’ve been
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doing in music uh right and their
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creativity would always inspire me and
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influence me in different ways so who
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was more strict and more critical the
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film critic or the choreographer i can’t
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imagine that that would be a tough
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tough to become what you’ve become
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because who was who was harder on your
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mom or your dad it’s hard to say because
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they they have different personalities
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and um in many ways they both can make
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you very uncomfortable
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but you can always feel the warmth and
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the
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unconditional love which is
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incredible so yeah my father is i admire
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greatly he um he’s able to quote you
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know different books and different uh
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poems in different languages
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he has this photographic memory and uh
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he has incredible very systematic mind
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almost like a renaissance man in a way
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he’s able to do many almost like yours
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yes yeah i i’m trying to copy him
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sometimes
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and my mom is far more uh intuitive and
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uh very emotional uh person also capable
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of a lot of things speaks many languages
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and
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those so much just a little bit more
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spontaneous and uh more unpredictable
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yeah which also can be crazy in 2018 you
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graduated from the conservatory moved to
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cleve among other places new york boston
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but cleveland the cleveland institute of
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music where you studied for the last
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four years
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under sergey babion for piano and keith
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fitch for composition two known known
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professors in the in this world
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big players in the world you perform
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many places across the world yes what
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are some of the more uh known places you
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performed well uh one of the most
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memorable experiences was in vienna uh
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where i was fortunate it was back in
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2013 and that’s in austria Brinton it is
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there is a beautiful concert called in
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vienna where i was fortunate to to play
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and it’s um you know
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it was so special uh to visit the city
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as well and to
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touch this very unique atmosphere
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because it’s full of music it’s also
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full of uh in general full of art and
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incredible unique culture so does that
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inspire your playing do you find that
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when you’re in that place like that it
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can it can help with your performance
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yeah the surroundings inevitably
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influence uh whatever i do and
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i can even see how my style of writing
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changes from time to time when i live in
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different places and
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the challenge there is to remain true to
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yourself so not to be dissolved in the
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space but rather to absorb the best of
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it and then uh
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give it back on a different level with
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something which can interest the people
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who live in the space did the wilson
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household do that to you oh i tried i i
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actually i was uh
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inspired very much uh and uh i happened
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to give a present
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to to be able to write a little present
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for gw’s wife
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wow
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she got birthday recently so i felt it
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was uh
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a very uh nice thing to do to write a
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little song for her and uh that’s he
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composed the piece from my wife i was
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kidding about
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so before we get into some of that stuff
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you get you applied for the collide burn
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from cleveland you get selected through
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your auditions you make it to fort worth
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you came here in march for the auditions
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the live editions and you got selected
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for the competition what was that what
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was the Cliburn like in your mind just
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give us a just an overview of the
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experience for you for the Cliburn well
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uh
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i have to say that i didn’t do
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almost any piano competitions before the
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pandemic so the pandemic was uh pushing
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me in a way and it pushed me to
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uh
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start
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kind of to to
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to start exploring these competitions
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and to
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feel motivated to develop further
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because the concerts got cancelled and i
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i thought it’s you know i have to find
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uh more unusual for myself and usual
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motivation to practice and to learn new
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pieces so i looked at the list of
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competitions and i applied to several a
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collaboration got postponed uh if we
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didn’t know it right away but it was
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postponed from 2021 to the next year
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so i decided
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if i was going to apply i should do it
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anyways uh even the pandemic is almost
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over but hopefully
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i should still apply and see what
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happens i obviously heard so many great
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things about this competition and to me
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it’s more like a festival where i uh
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meet
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my friends and uh or
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make new friends exchange ideas
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and explore music further just to make
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it to the competition Brinton’s the 30
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most qualified amateurs in the world
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it’s everybody there is significant
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player and they’re all they’re all
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really smart really wonderful performers
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musicians this guy does that and
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composes all in the same spends roughly
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10 hours a day i think more or less i’ve
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heard him practice for 10 hours a day
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it’s amazing but he spends so much time
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on his craft it’s the dedication to your
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music arsenii is what the most
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impressive thing about you you’re so
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dedicated to what you do and it’s it
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shows thank you it’s just that i’m
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combining both things composition and
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piano so i have to
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make sure i don’t fall too much behind
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on any of the uh what tell us the
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weather you told me that earlier in st
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petersburg because i think that can
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contribute to the practice schedules
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that’s true as well there is not much to
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uh
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not many great things you can say about
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the weather in symphysis bureau unless
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you’re really into foggy and uh kind of
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mind sickening uh weather and uh
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well it’s pretty much
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uh dark and uh
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except the jew actually right now is one
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of the best times in simplicity because
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we have a thing which is called white
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nights when sun almost never sets down
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and it’s quite it’s utterly romantic
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it’s very beautiful
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uh however we get an opposite version of
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it in december and in november when it’s
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almost always dark and there is no
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almost feels like there is no hope at
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least until the snow comes down uh you
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just see this naked branches very wet uh
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trees uh
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this uh terrible merciless wind uh oh
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really coming off that city itself is uh
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really beautiful there is hardly one
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more city which could compete with you
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know this uh um
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sort of atmosphere because it was built
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as a capital it’s not not very uh common
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it was built as a capital it has a lot
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of great uh architecture from across
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europe a lot of italian french buildings
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maybe i would say prague in czech
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republic would be you know another
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example of this sort of mix yeah
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different so our city since we’re
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discussing russia we have to ask the
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obvious question we know it’s a very
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sensitive subject for the entire world
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but being from russia you now live in
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the united states your english is
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phenomenal which you’ve learned in four
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years what tell us in your words what
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what the ukrainian russian situation
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means to you well i was quite devastated
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to learn about the start of the of the
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war
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and
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i have so many friends in ukraine as
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well
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in fact i
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felt an urge to replace some pieces in
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my screening audition program in march
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in fort worth
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i was supposed to play a lot of russian
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music
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and
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i almost wanted to cancel my
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participation because i saw not only
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that i wasn’t sure how how to identify
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myself if i should really present this
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country but also i
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saw how much
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hate there is actually from everyone you
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know not everyone but many people
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towards
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russian musicians and russian culture so
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i felt very uncertain about it and
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the only reason why i didn’t cancel
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the participation because i thought
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it might be better to to support a
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ukrainian composer who was at the moment
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in kiev uh with what i can do the
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the least i can do
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i played his piece in the screening
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audition his name is valencian sylvestre
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and he
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before
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all this crisis before 2014 he already
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was one of my favorite living composers
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so i always wanted to perform his works
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and i learned some of them so it was a
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very uh
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not very easy solution but i thought it
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was the best i can do and i’m just
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grateful for the Cliburn to be flexible
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about it yeah right that’s great well
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fort worth is grateful that you’re here
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truly and that we know that’s not an
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easy situation for you to be in we know
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you’re not supportive of what’s
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happening over there but music obviously
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is the universal language correct we’ve
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talked about this offline many times
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music that transcends all
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problems in the world somehow some way
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so you being here is a big deal so thank
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you where are you where are you headed
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after this uh i’m going to spend several
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days in new york for uh recording
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sessions with a very good friend of mine
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she’s a singer and we’ve been working on
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a cycle of songs based on mark chagall’s
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poetry and it might sound weird because
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he is very well known as a painter but
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he did write several poems in french
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etic and russian
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and my my friend she is putting together
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several of his songs which eventually
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will be premiered in a church in new
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york where chagall painted the murals
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and it’s a very special project for me
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so i’m very excited what about the fall
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where will you and in the fall i’m uh
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planning to start my master’s uh program
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in uh yield university
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new haven connecticut yeah yes i have
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one more question before we go um
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when you first did the composition to
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that poem
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who recited that in your home
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uh
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well i or was it done in the home or or
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did you
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i just or did you recite the poem while
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you were playing or i just was reading
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the poems and yeah one of them uh winter
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road was particularly inspiring for me
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so
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i i just sat down uh put melody and then
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i sang it with with my with my playing
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okay that’s that’s how it’s beautiful i
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just have two more but tell us about
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your experience in fort worth what do
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you love about forth did you love fort
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worth some of the food did was the food
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up to your liking besides the borscht we
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know you like the borscht well i uh
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first of all like cannot emphasize
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enough that i enjoy it so much this day
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and i i think it wouldn’t be
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uh wouldn’t have been the same without
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without you and without your wonderful
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family uh what i could also add is that
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i was fortunate to visit some museums i
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really enjoy the kimball collection
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because it’s it’s not very large but it
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has really
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unique things in it uh i i did see the
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african exhibit as well which i think is
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very very special
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so i definitely enjoyed that and the
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food has been has been nice i know i’m
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any favorites uh
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it doesn’t look like he ate very much i
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mean yeah physique like to be honest i’m
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not into food you know i i enjoy eating
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with great people and i think that’s
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what makes food special you know you can
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eat kind of uh very mediocre food if
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it’s your best friend you will enjoy
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this food the best i’m sorry for the
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vegan diet of my friend here he’s got to
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get out of here he’s going to gain
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weight being in texas all the time yeah
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um you’re going to play a five-minute
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composition
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after this what are you playing for us
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uh i i think i might play some of my
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uh own uh pieces and uh
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i thought it would be nice to play
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uh my first takata which is dedicated to
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bach there are three of them but the
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first uh one seems to be um nice
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gratitude to
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fort worth and beautiful thank you for
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being here arseni how can people find
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you online uh i have a website i have
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youtube channel uh you can always reach
16:08
out to me a-r-s-e-n-i-y
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precisely
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he’s he’s he’s gonna be a major force in
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the classical musical world in the
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future thank you for being
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here thank you
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[Music]
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so
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[Applause]
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so
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so
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so
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so
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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so
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[Music]
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so
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so
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[Music]
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foreign
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[Music]