Now Hamburg takes on Russian blowhards
NewsNo sooner has Munich opened War and Peace than Hamburg today announced Boris Godunov as the lynchpin of its 2023-24 season.
Without in any way advocating a retreat from Russian repertoire for political reasons, are these two (literal) war-horses the best way to address the world crisis and our relation to Russian culture?
Kent Nagano, music director, says: ‘The programme of our 2023/24 season is conscious of the insecurities of our present times, yet represents the ties that bind us to our musical and cultural heritage and its existential importance. It offers compositions that do not attempt to devise alternate realities, such as the classical works by Haydn or Mozart; in addition, it features symphonies that represent extremes, attempts to come to terms with the power of realities’.
If we deicde Russia and China are our enemies, I think we will encounter the “power of realities.”
As with the symphonies of Shostakovich, they take on a new meaning in these times… there’s an irony
I think you will find that these productions are meant to be a direct protest to what is taking place.
Haydn and Mozart devise alternate realities? Huh…who knew?
Is the problem Russia culture, or the Russian government? Must we equate Mussorgsky with Putin? Given the harm Putin has caused Russia, is he in reality an enemy of Russian culture?
“Given the harm Putin has caused Russia”
ruzzia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t just Putin’s war. It’s ruzzia’s war. Just like WWII wasn’t just Hitler’s war, but nazi-Germany’s war.
75% of ruzzians are pro-war. They’ve gone full-scale fascism.
Gobbledygook. This means nothing, and is meant to. So many people today are terrified of saying what they think. And they don’t all live in Russia or China.
Im Westen nichts neues.
Or maybe these operas can just be enjoyed as musical masterpieces based on great works of literature? Or does everything nowadays has to be about politics ?
No doubt different people will come to different conclusions about the propriety of staging Boris Godunov. But can anyone explain the apparent non-political embargo on the 1874 version. Every time a new Boris is announced, I look eagerly to see if it might finally have the chance to see the Boris that was actually performed in Moussorgsky’s lifetime; but it’s always the 1869 version (usually accompanied by some nonsense about this being “a rare chance to hear it”. Some commentator’s even seem to confuse Moussorgsky’s own 1874 version with later revisions by Rimsky-Korsakov. When, I wonder, will I get to hear the Polish act and Forest of Kromy scene in performance? When, indeed, was the later version last performed outside Russia?
Alexander Jacoby, do you mean the present production will be the 1869 one (perhaps more appriopriate to criticize the political criticism taken from Pushkin) rather than the one with the Polish act and the forest of Kromy (which I adore on musical and dramatic grounds) ? I did not find this information on the Hamburg opera website.
Take a look at the cast list! No Marina; no Rangoni; ergo, 1869, again…