Putin turns today to Valery Gergiev
NewsSome time today, Russia’s most powerful musician will take a call from the Kremlin.
Valery Gergiev turns 70 on May 2 and Vladimir Putin never forgets a birthday.
The pair have been close since 1992 when KGM man Putin was deputy mayor of St Petersburg and Gergiev, penniless head of the Mariinsky Theatre, was in desperate need of a friend in power.
The alliance has worked well. Putin knows that Gergiev will never refuse a request, whether it’s to rescue the Tchaikovsky Competition or celebrate his military adventures in Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine. Gergiev has become richer than oligarchs and can do whatever he likes with the cream of Russia’s musical resources. No musician has ever wielded such clout in any of the Russian empires.
His only drawback is the war. Gergiev has lost his international career, probably for decades if not forever. He used to relish acclaim in London, Munich, Rotterdam, Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein. All gone. He used to enjoy genuine friendships abroad. No more.
His 70th birthday will be toasted in Russia, ignored elsewhere.
As one who was counted among his friends for twenty years, I regret his isolation and feel a twinge of human pity for a complex man who has done much human good behind the scenes. But Gergiev has made his choices and, at 70, he must now live with the consequences.
Happy birthday, Valery. Whatever you do today, don’t forget to answer the phone.
Fate has it that Gergiev was dealt the wrong murderous dictator.
Had he been dealt a Caribbean mass-murdering, homophobic, racist, anti-semitic leftist cast in the T-shirt-friendly image of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, he would be leading the NY Phil and the Paris Opera by now. Flocks of lobotomised, Western academics and journalists would be sucking on their cognitive dissonance gummy bears and proclaiming the transformative power of his music. And his dictator-financed orchestra-slash-propaganda machine would be making a welcome return the Edinburgh Festival while 7.5 million of his countrymen made perilous journeys to freedom, because – it turns out – dictators transform societies far more effectively than music. Who knew?
Gergiev has to learn which ICC-sanctioned crimes against humanity are cool, and which are oh-so-1960’s.
(To be clear, if I wasn’t, I condemn maestro associations with ALL murderous dictators, and anyone who supports Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should go make their music in Russia. There is also a sliding-scale of Crimes Against Humanity-level depravity – from invading your neighbour and poisoning the opposition, to destroying your own country and enlisting the Cubans to disappear dissenters. It just seems that, in the classical music and academic worlds, some maestro-dictator affiliations are more accepted than others – justified, no less – even when said dictators are on the same team. When will we arrive at a universal standard of condemnation for such relationships of opportunity?)
This reminds us all about the hypocrisy of the cancellation policy against Russian musicians (and others). Gergiev turns 70 and is the most powerful and wealthiest musician ever in Russia. But given the options available to him would he have chosen otherwise? Would you? I’ve played with Gergiev. He is an amazing human being as you rightfully write. But as to his choices- neither Sokhiev nor Petrenko are oligarchs. And Currentzis is now an honored professor of the Moscow Conservatory. Not yet an oligarch but on his way. Fame and fortune take priority ? Seems to be so.
But what about the next generation? The microscope is on Stanislav Kochanovsky, the heir apparent to Gergiev. He has been nurtured and promoted by the Russian cultural and political regime. Performing regularly at the Mariinsky and St. Petersburg Philharmonic (where he is also from- like Putin). And often with Matsuev, another banned musician for his close connections to the Kremlin. And he guest conducts everywhere. Still. With no questions asked. No opinion about the Russian- Ukraine conflict. Why? That’s my question. Anyone know? Read on….
Slippedisc informed readers about the German soprano Anastasiya Taratorkina who also maintains her Russian passport. She was refused by the Queen Sonja Competition. And yet she is a resident of and lives in Germany since 2019 with members of her family and has no known association with the Mariinsky or Bolshoi. I am only writing about this variable policy of banning some and not others. I am not commenting about quality. This is a resend from a previous comment regarding this soprano.
From what I know and read Kochanovsky and his family live in St. Petersburg. Not in Europe. He is a Russian citizen . He is not a permanent resident of another country nor does he have a position outside of Russia. He has been openly supported and engaged by Gergiev at the Mariinsky and performs regularly with Matsuev, both artists who have been banned according to their political positions. And he would not be as active with them if he were not also on the political and cultural radar of his country.
I do not agree about any banning of artists over political conflicts. The point is while others have been asked to clarify their positions, we do not know Kochanovsky’s opinion on the war. Others have been asked. They made their opinions known. Some people openly protested and resigned- Petrenko, Jurowski, Sokhiev. Others support the regime and are banned in the west like Gergiev and Matsuev. Others are financed by companies supported by the kremlin and are banned in some places and not in others. Currentzis comes to mind. For a soprano who is a resident of Germany and has no reason to be asked and is canceled because of her passport whereas Kochanovsky is not even asked about his position is the hypocrisy I am highlighting. If he was not performing regularly at the Mariinsky or if he was a permanent resident outside of Russia, he would have reason to perhaps not be questioned. But for him to conduct the National Symphony Orchestra last month when the US is financing a war against Russia and making sanctions against Russian artists, it smacks of something curious and dubious.
Ilya Gringolts recently was quoted by the Guardian: “I know plenty of people who don’t have any trouble even though they actually support the war. I’m not going to name any names … but you know they support the war. They keep their mouths shut and they can continue their international career.”
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/06/russian-violinist-ilya-gringolts-i-know-people-who-support-the-war-they-keep-their-mouths-shut
So maybe it’s about career for him and he’s got people helping him from above to get visas and he’s just keeping his mouth shut.
I’m surprised no journalist in Washington asked him about his position on the war. Maybe he just said nothing. And I make no comment about his quality. He’s a fine conductor. But why her and not him?
Perhaps because Norway and the United States are two different sovereign countries who can develop their own policies without necessarily consulting each other or third countries?
It’s not about ‘poltical conflicts’ as such, but the attitude adopted towards them.
“…it smacks of something curious and dubious.”
Speculating about a Russian musician of draft age with young children smacks of ignorance and selfishness. Do you really think all the Western orchestras that engage him do so “no questions asked?”
Your curiosity about this artist will soon be satisfied and in the meantime please keep your uninformed rumor-mongering to yourself.
Montblanc? What rumor mongering? These are public facts. Kochanovsky has been engaged and thereby paid by the very artists and organizations that have been banned for their political associations. Yet he has not given nor has he been asked about his opinion as far as I can tell. There is no public record of his opinion about the war. Not all Russian artists are culpable, but he is in many ways a beneficiary of the Russian political cultural system. That is fact, not rumors. And I only raise the point because of the unfair cancellation of a German soprano who also holds a Russian passport. This has nothing to do with the draft either. Only inquiry to know why. There are thousands of young fathers with children in a Russia who have been drafted. I’m not saying Kochanovsky should be drafted. He is a very fine conductor and ostensibly the future for Russian conducting. But his opinion about the war is not public whereas many others have been forced to answer. Why not also him? All he has to do is say yay or nay as did the Petrenkos and Jurowski and Pletnev. Why have Western orchestras not asked? Only the Netherlands Phil gave him and Lugansky a free ride in 2022 in the name of musical unity across cultures. But the National Symphony in Washington? Not a word. No article. No interview. Not even a review to preemptively answer what audiences, musicians and patrons were asking.
You don’t seem to be very clear or informed yourself. Why do you just seem offended? It was not intended from my side. Only to ask readers if they know anything about him and his opinion. I don’t and have not found anything. Yet the facts speak otherwise. That’s why I ask. Why don’t you? Unless you know better. Like VTP and Gasprom sponsoring Currentzis, maybe Montblanc is Kochanovsky’s sponsor? That might explain some of his good fortune. Oh wait- Richemont suspended operations in Russia. Then what is it?
Gergiev believes in loyalty above all. His fatal flaw.
You throw Currentzis under the bus every chance you get and then you write this bile inducing nonsense about someone whose behaviour has been far worse.
Breathtaking hypocrisy. Gergiev is a far greater asset to Putin than Currentzis will ever be. And yet you wish him a happy birthday and feel some pity for him.
Sickening.
‘Happy birthday’? For someone who endorses the miseries his patron in the Kremlin has inflicted on Ukraine?
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. Danke für die vielen Stunden großartiger Musik in Wien
Remember, it was Sir Georg Solti who advised him not to be swayed by public criticism.
Solti told Gergiev that if he accepted praise from crtics he also had to accept negative criticism.
I never really liked Gergiev as a musician, even if i enjoyed his very long programs , i always found him not as charismatic or interesting as Rozdhestvenky or Svetlanov but i will not blame him to stay faithful to his country…and not bite the hand who fed him..
A bit like Prokofiev after his return from the West.