“They are afraid of threats. But you shouldn’t succumb to that,’ says Krielaars. According to him, it is enough to offer a sympathy card to the Ukrainians before the performance and to explain that many Russians do not want this war either, instead of putting an end to cultural expression. “These seem like Soviet practices.”
Krielaars, who recently published the book The sound of the state of salvation. Musicians in the time of Stalin† on the decision of the Philharmonie to cancel the festival weekend devoted to the Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
Director Edwin van Balken said to Haarlem Dagblad: ‘We do not want to ignore the concern about Ukraine that many people feel deeply.’ Balken argued that the cancellation has nothing to do with the reputations of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, whom he called ‘undisputed’. Participating musicians responded to the decision with ‘various’ responses.
Danger of Mutual Alienation
‘You have Putin’s Russia and Pushkin’s Russia,’ says Krielaars. The Russian dictator’s brutal warfare stands in stark contrast to a rich, layered Russian cultural tradition, he says. ‘You have to keep making a distinction in that regard.’ He also believes that cultural relations between Russians and the West must continue. The danger of more mutual alienation is lurking.
Stravinsky was known as a pro-Western, explains Krielaars. ‘He fled the Soviet Union and wanted nothing to do with communism. He was disgusted by it.’ Stravinsky obtained French and American citizenship.
‘Tchaikovsky’, Krielaars continues, ‘may be known as a nationalist, but he was simply a 19th-century exponent of the bourgeoisie and nobility. Chekhov, one of the most liberal writers in Russian literature, was a great admirer of his.’
Gergiev and Hermitage
Krielaars does understand the decision of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to distance himself from the living composer Valery Gergiev: ‘He is a friend of Putin. He has performed in Syria and other places where Putin has won victories. That’s just reprehensible.’
The Hermitage Amsterdam, which stopped the current exhibition and cut ties with St. Petersburg, is also another matter, according to Krielaars: ‘The Hermitage is a Russian state institution.’ But he doesn’t know what will happen in the near future. ‘Are they also going to remove all of Kazimir Malevich’s artworks from the Rijksmuseum?’
The festival weekend will be replaced by two benefit concerts for refugees from Ukraine, the income of which will go to giro 555.