Concertmaster resigns, refusing to play Russian music
Newswe hear that Martha Sparninia has resigned after 14 years as concertmaster of Latvia’s Sinfonietta Riga, claiming she is being forced to play too much music by Russian composers.
She says: ‘I am not the government of the country, I cannot influence big things. We have officials, diplomats who are all the time trying tirelessly to convince the officials of other countries that we need to put down weapons faster, increase sanctions… I have the feeling that in the field of music, we are simply doing the opposite: we choose Russian music for the tour than popularize, willingly or unwittingly, but we popularize this culture at a time when, in my opinion, it should be silenced – this culture is not in danger of extinction.’
How pathetic. I love the music of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glinka, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Glazunov, Moussorgsky .. and many others. Poor old Martha. She’ll end up being obliged to play great American string quartets, since she is probably against German and French composers, as well.
Why would she be against the German and French composers?
Bravo to Ms. Sparninia. It’s about time someone in the arts took a firm stand. We can do fine without Russian cultural nationalism for a time, until this horrible war is over.
“I love”
Nobody cares what you love, Harry. If you wanna be a Pootin stooge then that’s your choice. Reflects badly upon you, but, as I said, your choice.
But respect other people’s (better) choices.
Herr Brettermeier: so, appreciating Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Mussorgsky, Glzaunow, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Anna Akhnatova, Solzhenitsyn, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, David Oistrach, Yevgeni Mravinsky, Kirill Kondrashin, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky – just to mention a few names – makes you a “Putin stooge”?
You poor fool. You gotta see a shrink – pronto!
Good riddance to this silly girl. Can’t believe there are still people in this world stupid enough to confuse music and politics.
All art is political, this isn’t football.
Marta Spārniņa*
Does that mean “spermatozoon” in Latvian?
Just let the symphonic metal bands run things until Gergiev takes over.
This is sad. I Wish her the best. I think we should not silence Russian music at all. Sometimes I feel it these days inappropriate when you give whole Russian weeks, an all-Russian concert. Then it could be that I switch off the medias or stay at home. But I like quite programs with in previous days and today exiled Russian composers. Or if non-exiled names are not part of the whole event only of a part. It is a personal decision to go there or not. And so I can partly understand the now ex-concertmaster. It can affect these days to play Russian names, it could be that this doesn’t matter someone.
Do you feel it inappropriate to give an all-American concert, given that American soldiers are occupying about a third of Syria (funnily enough, the oil-producing region!) illegally for over 8 years? Or is that violation of national sovereignty acceptable?
“Closeted Tchaikovsky and silenced Shostakovich and the audiences who like their music should be held accountable to Putin’s actions. Putin may have manipulated a political system to carve out a lifetime of power, but we cannot fight him: We must fight Russian culture. When Trump was elected I got sick of Barber, Corigliano, and Michael Jackson. I find their music just oozes white-power fascism, and my conscience demanded a silence of their music (especially that Adagio work by Barber); it was a bold and courageous stance I took, if I must say it. …In fact, I was the first to call for a silence of Beethoven during his anniversary tour, but the pandemic successfully managed to do that for most of us.”
-Huw Kaers, in his book, “No Debate: Putin is Indeed the Axis of Evil”
Don’t let anger about the invasion of Ukraine lead to the mistakes
made during World War I. “Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in the United States During World War I” by Erik Kirschbaum and Herbert Stupp. It was written in 2015 but a new Kindle edition came out in January of 2023. Kirschbaum is a native of New York and a reporter for Reuters News Service who has lived in Germany for several years.
When I read this book in 2015 it was a warning to avoid mistreatment of Moslems and people from the Middle East. Many German immigrants were beaten, homes were destroyed and at least one man was lynched. People kicked little dachshunds, but avoided German Shepherds and Rottweilers. Sheet music by Beethoven and other Germans was burned. Orchestras refused to play German music. German language publications ceased to exist. It is 200 pages filled with human interest stories.Beware of Russophobia! I am Irish-Norwegian, but my husband’s parents immigrated from Germany in 1926.
“Beware of Russophobia!”
ruzzian bot tells you to be nice to raping and killing and looting ruzzian horde.
Fuck ruzzia.
A Russian orchestra goes on tour in the US, I would rather hear them play “The Little Russian” than “Appalachian Spring”. People expect that. She should understand it.
“I would rather hear them play “The Little Russian””
Nobody cares what you would rather hear them play. Did you live under soviet/ruzzian oppression in Riga or the Baltics in general? Oh, you didn’t? Please tell me more about what you would like to hear then. Clown.
This is a Latvian orchestra, not a Russian orchestra. Maybe Americans would expect them to be overflowing with Russian music, but if it came on tour, I’d like to hear an orchestra from Riga play symphonic music by Peteris Vasks.
Sounds like someone is looking for excuses to immigrate to Germany or … and land a better job.
History will remember Martha in a unique way!
Yes, her screed reads like someone looking for an excuse to quit.
I would like as much as possible to distinguish Russian composers from the Russian state, but everyone is entitled to draw their own line.
What about german music ?
What about whataboutism, Jean? WHAT ABOUT WHATABOUTISM!?!?
And this is why I hate people.
Pretty sure people hate you right back.
We believe you, beleidigte Leberwurst!
Russian music and culture of the past has nothing to do with a Putin’s desires and actions. By her logic we shouldn’t be playing any German music either? C’mon already! Ffs.
“By her logic we shouldn’t be playing any German music either?”
That’s your logic, not hers.
Many Russian composers suffered greatly under the regime and their music is a testament to resilience and dignity. To put all of them in one pot just because they were born in a certain country or spoke Russian is discriminatory.
If one follows this through consequently, the next question would be – what to do with all the Latvian composers who studied in St Petersburg and had countless cultural ties to Russia – for example the father of Latvian classical music Jazeps Vitols. Shall we ban them too? They did speak Russian… Or being ethnically Latvian redeems them? What about Alfred Schnittke then – he is also not a Russian, technically… but we do not ‘save’ him.
Sad times.
This is exactly what we don’t need right now.
So many vatniks here.
Privet iz Germanii! 😉
It’s her personal choice. I do not blame Russian composers for the Putin and have no problem listening to Tchaikovsky and the rest but I am not her.
This sort of unbridled nonsense calls to mind the old adage attributed to Einstein: “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”
Now she can work as a freelancer and play the repertoire she feels good about. If anything, such acts help the criminal regime show how it is the same as Russian culture. It craves exactly that. But nothing can be further apart. There is no shred of anything in common between Tchaikovsky and criminal thugs in power there other than their being compatriots. It does the regime a huge favor to conflate the two. There are always useful fools around.
These composers died years ago. How can they possibly be blamed for what is happening in Russia today? It’s ludicrous.
Did you live under soviet oppression in the Baltics? No? But I’m so happy that you have an opinion. Tell me more!
I understand the geopolitics but that does not change the argument. How can a dead composer be complicit in today’s Russia? My mother’s family lived under the Nazi occupation and her cousin ended up in Buchenwald for resistance work. They still listened to dead German composers. And the BBC used the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth to signify victory.
I am not prepared to fly to Munich in July, for example, as their summer festival opens with War and Peace (Should be Special Military Operation and Peace, by the way). Followed by Boris Godunov. Well, the latter shows that even the most evil kings must die (there was catastrophic famine under his rule), but wouldn’t Khovanshtina be more appropriate: die rather than modernize?
This is absurd. There was no ban on German music being performed in the UK during the Second World War.
Who said ban?