Anton Safronov: The Ocean Moves Backwards…

Anton Safronov (*1972)
Two Pieces from the Imaginary Vladimir Mayakovsky Mono-Theatre (2005/2013)
for female voice and ensemble

I. The Violin — A Little Bit Nervous
II. The Ocean Moves Backwards…

A diptychon after the texts by Mayakovsky — each of them is at once a monologue and dialogue with an imaginary partner — the beginning and end of a relationship, after a fashion. The first “monologue-dialogue” is a confession of the Poet to the Violin: he finds a kindred spirit in the anthropomorphic image of the musical instrument. The second one is a suicide note, a farewell and reconciliation with the inevitable. Both poems contain an appeal to the characters with female outlines, to which the poet confides the fragile, childlike side of his soul. Therefore, contrary to the prevailing stereotype — compositions after Mayakovsky for a male soloist, — I entrust my work to a woman’s voice. In the first piece it enters into a duet with the characteristic figures of the solo violin. For the second one I’ve chosen just the initial fragments of the unfinished sketches by Mayakovsky made close to the time of his suicide (“the ocean moves backwards…” and “Past one o’clock…”).

— Anton Safronov