prolly wind up sharing a cell
Posted on 08/05/2013 5:58:18 PM PDT by Borges
Violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer launches concert against Vladimir Putin and lashes out at the likes of Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev.
Violinist Gidon Kremer is enlisting the talents of artists like Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich for a concert in support of Russian oppositionists who have been jailed or suppressed by Vladimir Putin’s administration.
The concert will take place in Berlin, and is scheduled for October 7, the anniversary of the death of Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot and killed in 2006 after publically criticizing the presidency of Putin.
Titled ‘To Russia With Love’, the concert will feature Russian works and one new composition, Angels of Sorrow, written by Georgian-born composer Giya Kancheli in tribute to the imprisoned Russian philanthropist Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Kremer, who grew up in Latvia while it was a part of the USSR, expressed that such imprisonments by the Putin administration were far too reminiscent of the country he grew up in.
“It's obvious to the world that the charges against Khodorkovsky are ridiculous,” he said in a recent interview with Russian Snob magazine. “Once the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky sought only to use his wealth as a tool to improve society. But Russia's regime simply labeled such efforts as unjustified and a crime; as a result he has spent the last eight years in prison. As artists, it's our duty to raise our voices in a chorus of opposition to drown out those who seek to humiliate and punish men like Khodorkovsky.”
Kremer, when asked by Snob what he thought of musical colleagues' Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev's outspoken support for Putin, commented: “I don’t want to point the finger, but it always upsets me to see talented colleagues more interested in self-promotion than in their art form – becoming state delegates rather than artists. I’m highly suspicious of patriotism that identifies itself with the government. An artist, in my opinion, and historically, should be independent."
Kremer maintains that his concert is not conceived as an act of protest, but rather one of Russian support, with its aim to champion and protect those who have been persecuted and condemned by Putin’s administration.
“In contrast to composers, our artistic activity as musicians is limited to our lifetime. Is it not our civic duty to respond to the conflicts of our time? I’m not prepared to mount the barricades, my place is on the stage. But one must act with the weapon one has been given,” he said.
Classical Ping
i wouldnt fiddle with for or agin putin
Maybe they can do a couple numbers with Pussy Riot.
Stated ‘purpose’ notwithstanding, more homo dhimmitude, more like.
prolly wind up sharing a cell
prolly end up sharing a cello you mean
Putin doesn’t give a flying fig for constitutional government or personal liberty. The sooner he is gone, the better.
Let us know when they play in Moscow.
Doesn't have quite the same ring as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
LOL...
And just who would you replace him with?
Nor the talent.
Nor the same level of pretentiousness!
Joking I assume?
So, according to this musician, if a fellow musician fails to come out publicly in favor of the point of view that he espouses, then that person is neither an artist, nor a patriot.
I am so sick of being preached to by these musicians (they do this constantly in the Juilliard Review) who think their vocation gives them the duty and right to define morality for other artists, as well as for us poor, insensitive philistines. (They also do this regarding Israel and that evil empire, the USA.)
Someone who does.
I have nothing against the man. Putin’s job approval among Russians is 65%... Obama’s is 45% among Americans. Russians like their president despite all allegations of him (by Westerners of course) being a dictator, tyrant, KGB thug and whatnot.
RE: Valery Gergiev
I cannot stand this conductor. He is an incredibly arrogant and vain man. When he was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert hall looked like a cult of personality monument. Huge pictures of him all over the place. Some are still hanging there.
A few days after 9/11 I had tickets to hear a performance of Shostakovich’s 4th Symphony. Gergiev got stuck in the U.S. because of the grounding of flights and was not able to conduct the symphony. Instead, Maxim Shostakovich, the composer’s son stepped in and conducted an absolutely electrifying performance. Gergiev could not be outdone that way. The next year HE had to schedule the symphony again so that HE could show everyone how it is to be done. Arrogance.
Leni
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