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Polish politician asks why philharmonic orchestra plays Russian music

PR dla Zagranicy
Aleksander Nowacki 02.04.2015 12:26
A councillor in Poland’s third-largest city has tabled a formal inquiry as to why the Łódź Philharmonics play music by Russian composers.
Dmitri Shostakovich - politically suspect under any system. Photo: wikipediaDmitri Shostakovich - politically suspect under any system. Photo: wikipedia

The head of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) caucus in the city council, Piotr Adamczyk is in particular concerned about Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev.

“Is it quite certain that the Łódź public want to listen to the music of one composer, namely D. Shostakovich and his peculiar pro-Soviet music (XII Symphony - for Lenin, New Babylon – soundtrack to the film about a female Paris Commune activist) or S. Prokofiev - "Aleksander Nevskiy",” he asked.

The response was delivered by the head of the Łódź region administration, Witold Stępień of the governing Civic Platform (PO).

While Shostakovich’s XII Symphony was in the end not performed by the Łódź orchestra, it is part of the repertory of Berlin, Amsterdam and Liverpool philharmonics, he said.

He also pointed out that a mere 17 pieces out of 107 performed by the Łódź philharmonics over the past 12 months were composed by Russians.

Stępień tactfully omitted the fact that Shostakovich only survived Stalinism by a stroke of luck after being denounced as a "bourgeois formalist". (an)

Source: Dziennik Łódzki

tags: music, PiS, Russia
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