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Russian Composers Abroad: How They Left, Stayed, and Returned by Elena Dubinets

2022; Maney Publishing; Volume: 100; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/see.2022.0008

2222-4327

Arnold McMillin,

Soviet and Russian History

Reviewed by: Russian Composers Abroad: How They Left, Stayed, and Returned by Elena Dubinets Arnold McMillin Dubinets, Elena. Russian Composers Abroad: How They Left, Stayed, and Returned. Russian Music Studies. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 2021. xix + 362 pp. Music examples. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $90.00; $36.00. In an age of widespread movements of people this important book about the fates of composers who left Russia for various reasons is also relevant to the problems of emigration and repatriation from and to many other countries. The author, Elena Dubinets, herself a Russian Jew now resident in the USA, and also Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, describes in a witty introduction the difficulties of explaining one's origin and national allegiance to the outside world. Personal experience undoubtedly helped to make this book clearly sympathetic to her subject as well as lucid and comprehensible. Painstakingly thorough, extensively illustrated and comprehensively annotated it is, of course, mainly for classical music-lovers and particularly those whose interests extend into the present century, although the experiences of these composers and performers leaving and sometimes returning to their native lands have much in common with the experiences of all emigrants. The book consists of five parts, each divided into several chapters — Part One: National versus the Local (1. The 'Universal': Globalizing the Local, 2. The National: Super-Icons, 3. National Identification versus Cultural Affiliation: Non-Russian Composers, 4. Cultural Affiliation versus Citizenship: Russian Diaspora); Part Two: How To: Perspectives of Musical Creation (5. The 'Social' Perspective, 6. The 'Production' Perspective); Part Three: How They Left (7. A Brief History of Russian Diaspora through Music, 8. 'Kolbasa Emigration': A New Cultural Mythology?); Part Four: How They Stayed (9. The Trauma of Migration, 10. The Many Professions, 11. Supporters and Connectors); Part Five: How They Returned (12. Homecoming and Reception at Home, 13. Russia under Putin: To Stay or to Go?). An original aspect of this stimulating book is that at the end of each chapter there is a related musical interlude, combining words with generous music illustrations. There are too many to list here, but this reviewer found the following three particularly interesting: 'Two Akhmatova Requiems (John Tavener and Elena Firsova)' (pp. 73–100), where the English composer treats the text of this famous poem in its original sequence, whilst the Russian is far freer with an at times almost playful manner. Also fascinating is the discussion of the unfinished last work of one of the most celebrated composers in the book: 'Different Iterations of Alfred Shnittke's Symphony No. 9' (pp. 146–66), contrasting the attempt of his friend and fellow-composer Aleksandr Raskatov (b.1953) to bring to life a virtually illegible manuscript with the far freer treatment of what he saw as the score by conductor Gennadii Rozhdestvenskii; [End Page 187] the latter, incidentally, was blamed by Shnittke's widow Irina for bringing on Shnittke's fourth and final stroke (p. 147). The third example is 'Sharik and Kolbasa in Alexander Raskatov's Opera A Dog's Heart' based on Bulgakov's short novel, usually known as The Heart of a Dog, in which the part of the animal on its first performance was played by a skeletal puppet with two voices and of its human embodiment by a high tenor. These three examples, it must be stressed, are far from the only absorbing interludes. In a book that is not only written elegantly and readably despite its complex material, but also with great thoroughness and care, it may be out of place to mention that on p. 188 (David) Fanning's opinion is quoted without a reference, and even without his name appearing in the Index, and that, almost certainly by the nodding of an editor rather than the author, note 13 on page 303 contains an obvious error. Such details do nothing to detract from the worth of an exceptional book that should be of great interest not only to specialists in modern music, but also to students of migration and its various burdens and rewards, as well as to those concerned with the practical side of performance, music publishing and recording, to say nothing of...