Putin congratulates a loyal violinist

Putin congratulates a loyal violinist

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norman lebrecht

September 14, 2014

Loyalty works both ways.

The violinist and chamber orchestra conductor Vladimir Spivakov has been quick to sign manifestos in support of the Russian president.

This weekend, the Kremlin reciprocated by publishing  a 70th birthday telegram from Putin to his court violinist. It says, among other fond things: ‘Thank you for your many years of work and devotion to art, to the entire Russian society, our homeland, (and) for your enormous contribution to the increase of the national cultural heritage. ‘

putin spivakov

Got that? Now read Gidon Kremer (here)…. And share.

Comments

  • music muse says:

    Vladimir Spivakov: He’s a 3rd rate violinist, and 5th rate conductor with the brownest nose in the business. He’s a manipulative, back-stabbing coward with no conscience whatever, who has been publicly reviled by a world-class Russian conductor as “a typical Russian schmuck”.

  • Milka says:

    Is there such a thing as Russian “World class conductor ” ?Haven’t run across a Russian musician who wasn’t
    a” typical ……etc. etc.

  • Olaugh Turchev says:

    Funny: when the Kremer rant goes down in flame… bring up Spivakov, or Gergiev or Netrebko to rekindle the bash.

  • Milka says:

    Bychkov,Soghiev, Gergiev, & all the Jurowskis’ and Petrenkos etc . etc . do
    not add up to one so called world
    class conductor whatever its meaning .Why any one would want to “bash”
    Netrebko is beyond understanding, as
    she is so inconsequential as a singer .

    • Neil McGowan says:

      Bychkov,Soghiev, Gergiev, & all the Jurowskis’ and Petrenkos etc . etc . do not add up to one so called world class conductor

      Perhaps you could tell us all who you think the “world class conductors” of the present generation are, then??

      Are you a musician yourself, “Milka”?? Perhaps you could tell us?

  • allformusic says:

    Yuri Temirkanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky = 2 giants of the podium

  • Milka says:

    Well if I must … I know music and know
    it quite well .. enough to observe
    that even with the latest two mentioned by
    Allformmusic the Russian conductors
    in this age of immediacy are
    rather provincial in their musical
    outlook as are most Russians.
    What is actually meant by the ridiculous
    “world class ” attribution ?

    • Neil McGowan says:

      I knew that you wouldn’t be able to answer. And you failed to answer.

      A pile of empty accusations – and then you couldn’t name a single conductor???

  • Milka says:

    It is not a “pile of empty accusations” just an observation .

    Once you are able to define “world class ” a ridiculous empty
    description one suspects being coined by a travel agent, we may be able to
    steer you to a conductor fitting such a
    description , certainly wouldn’t want
    to direct you to a “non world class”
    type of conductor .As for Turchev, Mr.
    Kirill Petrenko may meet Turchev’s
    standards but sadly doesn’t come up
    to mine .

    • Neil McGowan says:

      So you still refuse to name a single world-standard conductor, and instead persist in ad hominem off-topic insults….

      I frankly doubt you are familiar with classical music in any way at all. You are simply trolling this thread to make political points – and failing dismally.

  • Neil McGowan says:

    Well, “Milka”, we get the picture now.

    You made racist claims about Russians, saying that no Russian was able to be a world-class conductor.

    But when you were asked – three times – to name any conductor you would consider world-class… you couldn’t. Because you don’t know any conductors at all. You don’t know the work of any of the Russian conductors who have been mentioned here, by a number of different members.

    If you think your “cause” has been advanced by the posts you’ve made – you’ve failed.

  • Mick says:

    I think Mr. Lebrecht is trying to draw our attention to one important point here, namely the difference between the Kremer-like and the Spivakov-like types of attitude. But then, Kremer has always been independent of the Russian authorities having cut ties with the former USSR already in his young years, while Spivakov’s work has been deeply rooted in Russia, a fundamental difference between the two.

    • M2N2K says:

      Actually, Kremer, throughout his career, has been performing more new and recent music written by his Soviet and Russian contemporaries than Spivakov ever did, so one might say that the former’s work may be rooted in Russian culture even deeper than the latter’s. The real fundamental difference is that Spivakov has always been doing everything that was necessary to be among the favorites of whoever was in power at the time, regardless of ideology or any other principled considerations – while Kremer always stayed as far from the government as he possibly could, even when doing so was riskier than it is now.

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