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Fundamentalist measure, cancel culture in its purest form or consistent political solidarity?
The Munich ultimatum expired without Valery Gergiev having spoken out in favor of the mayor (cf. Ukraine war: When all bridges are burned), so city chief Dieter Reiter (SPD) resigned from the Russian conductor. From now on there will be no further concerts by the Munich Philharmonic under his direction. His reasoning:
Despite my request to clearly and unequivocally distance himself from the brutal war of aggression that Putin is waging against Ukraine and now in particular against our twin city of Kyiv, Valery Gergiev has not spoken out.
OB rider
The city wanted a political tone from the exceptional conductor, he preferred to remain silent. The allegations leveled against Valery Gergiev are related to his affinity with Russian President Putin.
The conductor had not commented on the war in Ukraine or on Russian politics. Almost eight years ago, in May 2014, shortly before he took office with the Munich orchestra, the waves from the Ukraine to Munich were so high that he wrote an open letter to smooth them out, as the THE described.
Who the then published there open letter reads, will quickly notice that Gergiev resists the impertinence of commenting on political developments. His field is music culture, as he emphasizes several times.
He is aware “that real political problems suddenly send hard and shrill dissonances into the community of our cultural work”. But for him it was “crucial then, to keep the courage to listen to the other side and to exchange ideas. That we don’t lose respect for one another. The dialogue must not break off, never! The exchange of ideas must remain possible”.
Gergiev’s close connection with Putin, which he makes no secret of, has become such a nuisance that even his work enthusiastic concert reviews recently started with sentences like: “It has always been unpleasant, but currently even more unpleasant than usual, that you see President Putin’s friend Valery Gergiev in Gazprom ads on football nights.”
The political perception makes the overture, only then comes the beautiful art and letting live: “The beauty of the bitter sorrow in the final piece ‘Romeo am Grab Julias’, performed bare and bare by the orchestra, was staggering.”
For Munich’s cost-benefit calculation, the annoyance that one got with the Russian conductor’s image and that has been growing in recent days is much greater than what the city used to draw its legends and the Munich feeling from: bragging, splurging, art shopping and easygoing Let live, no matter what it costs.
Another factor in Gergiev’s deliberations will have been that it could cost him, his family and friends a great deal – liberty, health, life – if he made a confession that the warlords in Moscow did not like. The center of his life is in Russia and many livelihoods depend on him.
Demanded confession and got nothing
Bayerischer Rundfunk quotes the mayor of the SPD:
He would have expected Gergiev to reconsider and revise his “very positive assessment of the Russian ruler.” Gergiev didn’t do that. “In the current situation, however, a clear signal for the orchestra, its audience, the public and city politics would have been essential in order to be able to continue working together,” said Reiter. After this did not happen, only an immediate separation would remain. “We will clarify everything else as soon as possible,” said the mayor.
So it was about a confession by the artist after all – “rethinking and revising an assessment” – and not just distancing, as advocates of the measure had put forward, despite their bad feelings about the freedom of art.
The community of values is currently putting other things in the foreground and the good guys are under the flag. When Gergiev looks in his mailbox these days, he too sees the “paradigm shift” that many political commentators and the armaments industry are enjoying at the moment.
The many invitations turned into invitations: “The Hamburg Elbphilharmonie has also canceled the planned performances by the Russian star conductor,” he said BR. “It is also remarkable that the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden no longer wants to work with Gergiev.” Baden-Baden follows New York and Milan.
Classical music, which has never been as clean, upliftingly sublime as its worst supporters want it to be, is now being kept clean of artists who’ve been to the wrong parties:
In addition to Gergiev, the Russian opera diva Anna Netrebko has also been criticized for her closeness to Putin. Last year she celebrated her 50th birthday in the Kremlin Palace in Moscow with a big gala, at which Putin’s congratulations were also read out. Unlike Gergiev, she publicly declared that she was against this war, but also emphasized that she was not a “political person”.
The singer is now going on the offensive and canceling concerts.
(Thomas Pany)
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