Exclusive: Moscow police break up piano recital
NewsMoscow police yesterday raided a recital of chamber music by Shostakovich and Weinberg at the Rassvet Palace of Culture, ordering the artists and audience to go home, ‘by order of the Presnensky police department’.
Facing solid refusal, the police left and the recital proceeded with a Shostakovich trio and piano quintet. The police returned at the interval and cleared the hall, claiming they had received a bomb warning. After a fruitless search of the building, artists and audience returned and the recital was completed with the Weinberg Aria for string quartet, op. 9 and Piano quintet op. 18
The pianist was Polina Osetinskaya, who has previously protested against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
She was accompanied by members of Opensoundorchestra – Stanislav Malyshev, Inna Zilberman (violins), Daria Filippenko (viola) and Olga Kalinova (cello).
Opensoundorchestra has recorded with Gabriel Prokofiev and has a record of working alongside non-compliant Russian musicians.
This is the definition of courage. If I were a Gergiev or a Netrebko or an Abdrazakov or a Matsuev, I would feel so ashamed of myself I could never show up in public, at a minimum out of humility, respect and decency for the brave who have chosen to stay and take a stand rather than to hide behind house-pet protection or the curtain of protection that the West gives them.
Is Putin emulating Stalin and objecting to the composers? I don’t need to say anything about Shostakovich; as for Weinberg, look at “In the Soviet Union” section of the Wikipedia entry on Mieczysław Weinberg. He was arrested on charges of “Jewish bourgeois nationalism,” but fortunately Stalin died a month later and he was released.
Brava Polina!!!
Anyone who can play while being threatened by the Moscow police and whatever psycho is directing them is a superhero(ine)!
Babi Yar is to be performed at the Barbican this evening. Fears are dying out in Russia, indeed. Shosty would love the irony, I suspect.
On the other hand, Ukrainia is hell bent on dePushkinizing itself. The defamation of the artistic / political legacy of the veritably divinized Russian poet of African heritage, Alexander Pushkin, is intolerable to Blacks and POC in the West as well as THE GLOBAL SOUTH. Woke up, UKRAINIA, damn it. WOKE UP!!!
Osetinskaya has denounced Putin’s invasion of Ulraine, and has since been banned from perfoming in public.
Yes what an advanced civilization they truly are.
You are quite right. I would love to imagine an audience and performers in a London concert hall defying the Met Police in a similar way, but the evidence of recent years suggests that we British would fail miserably to stand up for classical music, alas.