Virtuosi Reality

The Moscow Virtuosi have proved you can go home again.

The group, formed in 1979 by violinist-conductor Vladimir Spivakov, moved to Spain in 1990. It cited fears for its families from anti-Semitism, conflicts between Russians and Ukranians and between Armenians and Azerbaijanis back home.

The Soviet Union dissolved a year later, but it wasn’t until the group fulfilled a three-year obligation to the Spanish royal family that the musicians could resettle in their native city.

The instrumentalists and their conductor, who will appear at the Performing Arts Center on Sunday in a concert presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, have always remained Russians in their hearts.

“It’s quite difficult for us to change our nature,” Spivakov said in an interview from Indiana, where he and his group were playing before their Costa Mesa engagement.

When they returned to Moscow, they found conditions better but still unsettled, as they have remained ever since.

“Everyone now is a little bit unsure because of the very fast recognition of Mr. [Vladimir V.] Putin [as president], the war in Chechnya and lots of other things,” Spivakov said.

“But all the competitors looked much worse, and especially Mr. [Gennadi] Zyuganov, a communist. No one who has even a little bit of brains wants to have communism back.”

Spivakov, 55, recalled the days under communism, when he and his group weren’t allowed to tour to the United States until 1987.

“My orchestra suffered so much,” he said. “We got paid so little and always, when we toured, we traveled with KGB people. It was a little bit too much.”

Things have improved for him and them, though. Besides his work with the Virtuosi, he became music director and chief conductor of the Russian National Orchestra in 1999, an obligation with limited touring.

“I have to produce five or six new programs every year with a big orchestra,” he said. “So I can’t tour as much as I’d like.”

They have also made more than 20 recordings for the BMG/RCA Red Label of works ranging from Bach, Haydn and Mozart to Shostakovich, Schnittke and Shchedrin.

In Orange County, their program will be devoted to Mozart and will include two symphonies, a violin concert (with Spivakov as soloist) and the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola (Spivakov and violist Igor Suliga).

Originally, Inva Mula was to have sung arias on the program, but the Albanian soprano asked to be released because of a recording commitment, according to a spokesperson for the Philharmonic Society.

“I perform lots of modern music,” Spivakov said. “Sometimes people get very excited about it, but some audiences don’t like it very much if I play [Sofia] Gubaidulina or some new piece.

“It’s a pity when presenters choose only Mozart. But I try to get in modern music as encores.”

In playing Mozart, however, Spivakov doesn’t try to follow the dictates of the so-called authentic performance practice movement.

“For me, the most important thing is the spirit of music. Anyhow, it’s an artificial thing to think that if you perform on old instruments, you can re-create original performances. Actually we perform on old instruments too. My violin is 300 years old. But we play with a normal bow.

“But you cannot have it absolutely the same. The music was written for small audiences, for small halls. Authentic musical research helps us enormously, and I appreciate it very much. I use it for ornamentation, phrasing and different kinds of things. I think it’s good to know.”

Music is not Spivakov’s sole interest. In 1994, he established an international charity foundation to provide creative and financial support to talented young people and needy children in his homeland.

“Every concert, I put part of my fee into this foundation,” Spivakov said. “So far, we have saved five children’s lives, either through open-heart surgery or cancer operations.

“This is my mission--to help. Especially in Russia, at such a difficult moment. . . . My conscience tells me to continue to do this. We have so many great talents in Russia, even in this misery.”

*

* Vladimir Spivakov will conduct his Moscow Virtuosi in a Mozart program Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. The concert is sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. $15 to $55. (714) 556-2787.

*

Chris Pasles can be reached at (714) 966-5602 or by e-mail at chris.pasles@latimes.com.