I just saw this headline: Cardiff Philharmonic removes Tchaikovsky from programme in light of Russian invasion of Ukraine and my initial thought was, no, that's a bridge too far. Tchaikovsky didn't invade anyone so why should he get cancelled? They felt that while Russia was invading Ukraine was an "inappropriate" time to be doing an all-Tchaikovsky program. While it makes sense to punish the current regime in Russia for its cruel adventurism through economic sanctions, shutting down internet services, boycotting Russian oil and gas and a host of other measures, I really fail to see how eliminating Tchaikovsky from a symphony program serves any practical end. Do we hate Russian culture? Certainly not, so maybe it would be a good idea to perform more Russian and Ukrainian music to show that. Cancelling Tchaikovsky is just a particularly pointless example of virtue-signalling. But yes, do everything feasible to discourage the current leadership in Russian from continuing on this very dangerous path.
THE MUSIC SALON: classical music, popular culture, philosophy and anything else that catches my fancy...
OSM has cancelled Russian pianist, scheduled to play Prokofiev 3rd cto.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2022/03/09/scoop-montreal-symphony-raises-debate-cancellation-russian-pianist/
The pianist has decried the invasion, which should allow him to participate in the concert. Some will say 'Just virtue signaling', but I accept his sentiments.
OTOH, if a musician was putting out statements in support of the Russian slaughter of innocents, I would consider that a dealbreaker.
Should we require all musicians to get on board publicly with the anti-Russian side? Difficult question to answer.
I just saw that. Thanks for commenting Patrick.
ReplyDeleteThere certainly seems to be a trend towards demanding of Russian artists that they denounce Putin and the invasion of the Ukraine as a condition of their further employment. In the case of Gergiev who seems to have been an active supporter, well, maybe. In the case of Netrebko who seems to have been a marginal supporter, maybe not and I would say definitely not in the case of the young Russian pianist in Montreal. The thing is, that in Russia it is often necessary for one's survival and career to at least pretend to support the regime. These days, in many non-authoritarian societies it seems to be a requirement that you publicly support, or at least pretend to, a whole panoply of things. I doubt that this is healthy.
ReplyDeleteWell… how many American artists and businessmen had to denounce their country in order to earn their living before, during, and after American invasion of Iraq?
Just for some context:
########
Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Mon 27 Apr 2009 19.01 EDT
Polish pianist stops show with anti-US tirade
Krystian Zimerman, the great Polish concert pianist, is usually a man of few words. He doesn't, as a rule, talk to the audience during performances. He says little or nothing in the press between his all-too-rare concert tours - not even about his habit of travelling everywhere with his own Steinway grand piano. He rarely grants them the pleasure of an encore.
So he triggered more than the usual rumble of discomfort when he raised his voice in the closing stages of a recital at Los Angeles' Disney Hall on Sunday night and announced he would no longer perform in the United States in protest against Washington's military policies.
"Get your hands off my country," Zimerman told the stunned crowd in a denunciation of US plans to install a missile defence shield on Polish soil. Some people cheered, others yelled at him to shut up and keep playing. A few dozen walked out, some of them shouting obscenities.
"Yes," Zimerman responded with derision, "some people when they hear the word military start marching."
According to Mark Swed, the Los Angeles Times's veteran classical music critic who witnessed the incident, Zimerman hesitated before deciding to speak up. He was about to strike up the first notes of the final piece on his programme, Karol Szymanowski's Variations on a Polish Folk Theme, when he "sat silently at the piano for a moment, almost began to play, but then turned to the audience".
Swed said he delivered his tirade "in a quiet but angry voice that did not project well".
Zimerman appears to have been upset by Barack Obama's decision, announced this month, to maintain the Bush-era policy of installing a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Obama insisted the shield was part of a defensive posture against Iran, not Russia, and that he intended to remove it as soon as the threat from Iran subsided. But many Poles have accused the US of wanting to mount a military occupation of their country, and fear the shield could make them a target of Russian aggression.
Classical musicians are not exactly famous for political ranting. When Beethoven became disillusioned with Napoleon after he crowned himself emperor in 1804, the loudest thing the composer did was remove the dedication to him from his Eroica symphony. Leonard Bernstein spoke out against the Vietnam war and hosted a notorious fundraiser for the radical Black Panther movement, but never discussed his politics from the conductor's podium.
Zimerman, though, has developed something of a track record - especially since the 9/11 attacks. In 2006 he announced he would not return to the United States until George Bush was out of office. The same year, at Baltimore's Shriver Hall, he prefaced his performance of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata with a denunciation of America's prison at Guantánamo Bay.
At least some of his opprobrium appears to be personal. Shortly after 9/11, his piano was confiscated by customs officials at New York's JFK airport, who thought the glue smelled funny. They subsequently destroyed the instrument.
For several years he chose to travel with just the mechanical insides of his own piano and install them - he is a master piano repairer, as well as player - inside a Steinway shell he borrowed from the company in New York. In 2006 he tried to travel with his own piano again, only to have it held up in customs for five days and disrupt his performance schedule.
########
I had forgotten about that incident. Whereas it is certainly everyone's right, even performing artists', to have and express political opinions, I am not in favor of doing so during a performance. That is taking advantage of the audience in a rude way.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of the point you want to make in the present context?