<\/p>
F<\/span>aced with a country\u2019s destruction and the displacement of millions from their homeland, one feels trite talking about war\u2019s effect on culture. Theodor Adorno\u2019s famous line \u2013 \u2018to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric\u2019 \u2013 warns us against taking refuge in pleasurable artistic things while the suffering caused by atrocities is still ongoing or raw in the memory.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Nevertheless, the cultural repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine must be addressed, not least because they have had an impact on classical music in ways that have sometimes left me perplexed. I can understand that people want to express revulsion at what\u2019s being inflicted by Putin\u2019s regime. I can see why promoters and audiences in the West now wish to shun that small handful of Russian musicians who have, over many years, identified themselves as allies of Putin \u2013 such figures as the conductor Valery Gergiev<\/a><\/strong>, pianist Denis Matsuev and soprano Anna Netrebko. Similarly, I accept that ensembles closely associated with the Russian state \u2013 such as the Bolshoi Ballet, which was due to perform in London this summer \u2013 should be told they are unwelcome, even if the dancers themselves are blameless and quite possibly secret Putin haters.<\/span><\/p>\n What I find more questionable are calls for a blanket ban on all things Russian, including performers who have bravely issued condemnations of the invasion, and, farcically, the music of Tchaikovsk<\/a><\/strong>y and Musorgsky<\/a><\/strong>. Isn\u2019t it Russia that\u2019s the intolerant society?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> That said, I can\u2019t see how it will be possible to normalise the exchange of musicians between the West and Russia for years to come. And it won\u2019t primarily be the West that loses from that. It will be another nail in the coffin of Russian creativity. Another nail? Well, consider this. For half a century Russian musical life has been drifting into a backwater. The glorious succession of great Russian composers has come to a shuddering halt. It began with Glinka in the early 19th century and continued with the fervent nationalist music of \u2018The Five\u2019 <\/span>and the more cosmopolitan masterpieces <\/span>of Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong> and Scriabin<\/a><\/strong>. It was maintained throughout the Soviet era \u2013 bravely, in the face of horrible political pressures \u2013 by Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong>, Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong>, Ustvolskaya and Khachaturian, while outside the country such \u00e9migr\u00e9 geniuses as Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong> and Stravinsky<\/a><\/strong> drew constantly on their Russian roots for inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> But since Shostakovich\u2019s death in 1975, who? Rodion Shchedrin and Alfred Schnittke have their admirers; I\u2019m not among them. And there are a few younger Russian composers (some settled in the UK) who write well-crafted music. None, however, has made an international impact to match the leading American, Finnish, British or German composers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Then look at those once-great Russian musical institutions. The Bolshoi Opera in Moscow and the Mariinsky Opera in St Petersburg still produce amazing voices, no question, but their repertoire is governed far too much by what <\/span>tourists want to see (or at least it was until <\/span>pandemic and war clobbered the tourist trade), and their lumbering productions often look like hand-me-downs from Tsarist days. Much the same can be said about the repertoire of Russia\u2019s leading orchestras. The country\u2019s conservatories still turn out formidable string players and pianists, but the ambitious ones get out of Russia as soon as they can.<\/span><\/p>\n Why has this decline happened? Three things: repression, commercialisation and dysfunction. Repression has always been a facet of Russian life, but at least in Soviet times it gave creative artists an angry hidden agenda for their work. As far as I can see, that hasn\u2019t happened in Putin\u2019s Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n