CLASSICS ON THE VERGE OF MASS CULTURE: STRATEGIES FOR REPRESENTATION

The article explores the problem of representation of musical classics in modern culture, due to the influences of popular culture and the characteristics of the perception of mass audience. Two main strategies for performing representation of musical classics in the space of popular culture are identified and substantiated: pseudo-academic representation and post-classical representation. Signs of a pseudo-academic strategy, which are uttered emotionality, «commenting» on the expressiveness of facial expressions and plastic, additional visual details and accessories on the verge of shocking – are revealed on the example of such famous musicians as pianist Lan Lan, conductor Valery Gergiev and singer Anna Netrebko. During pseudo-academic representation, the performance of academic music is transformed into the phenomenon of popular culture, while the quality of the performance of a musical work either becomes an element of the show (virtuosity is brought to the forefront of the representation), or the visual and expressive component of the performing act begins to prevail over the musical and technical component and the musical material becomes secondary to the interpretation process. During the implementation of the post-classical strategy, the text of the classical work itself enters the field of popular culture and begins to function as its product, while the interpreter is fully a figure in popular culture, transforming musical classics into the phenomenon of artistic «postculture.» It is proposed to include the phenomenon of classical crossover, a cultural strategy involving the integration of classical music into the field of popular culture. Classical crossover is a commercial product based on musical classics, the creators of which, solving the problem of listening perception (habitually, attractively, in demand), combine classical music with jazz, rock, pop music and other commercial areas, borrow techniques, instruments, methods of visual representation. An example of a postclassical strategy for representing musical classics in the space of modern popular culture, for example, is the implementation of classical crossover in the work of the art group M. Turetsky Choir.