Shostakovich
When Shostakovich Wrote ‘From Jewish Folk Poetry’ And Pissed Off Stalin
When the composer sang the words “It seems to me that I am Anne Frank” he burst into tears.
The Big Schnoz Returns to the Met
James Levine is not the only major return at the Metropolitan Opera this week. The acclaimed production of Gogol’s ‘The Nose’ also starts a cameo run.
Manipulating Shostakovich
A wall comes to life. Arms appear in what had seemed like empty black suits hanging on them. The seven actors in the company, in evening dress, whom we’ve seen singing, playing with pieces of paper, join hands with the arms. Together the actors and the limbs on the wall do a kind of Hora. Later, a 17-foot high puppet of a babushka embraces, and menaces, a little clown. The clown is composer Dmitry Shostakovich. It’s like something from Dr. Seuss. It’s like a dream.
Lenin, Stalin, and Jewish Musicians
On October 12, Paris’s Cité de la Musique opened a new exhibit, “Lenin, Stalin, and Music” which includes much fascinating material about the fate, and often the plight, of Russian Jewish musicians.