Russia is never out of the public consciousness.
As a friend in England reminded me after reading last
month’s article[i],
Churchill described Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
Perhaps this explains why it features so regularly in
current affairs news reporting and likewise commands our continuing attention in
the cultural media.
Russian News
Last year (and the year before that), for example, we
heard all about the unrest in the east of Ukraine and consequent criticism
about Russia’s intentions; we witnessed the concern in Europe as Russia annexed
Crimea; in total contrast, international sympathy for Russia was aroused last
autumn when a jet carrying Russian tourists over the Sinai in Egypt was
destroyed by a bomb; the UK Prime Minister and others criticised Russian
airstrikes in Syria, criticism which continues; suspicions harking back to the
Communist era were evoked when Russian athletes were suspended from
international competition following a report produced by the sport’s world
drugs body about global athletics; and the fall-out from the death almost a
decade ago of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko continues with a
public inquiry concluding recently that President Putin “probably” approved of
his murder; which story has been followed by a row over accusations on BBC
Panorama[ii] by the US Treasury about
President Putin’s “secret wealth.”
And
so it goes on.
Russia’s televisual portrayal
This year, Russia has been given a fantastic public
relations introduction, at least in the UK.
Thanks to the BBC, Russian history and culture have been portrayed in their
finest light with a series of superb documentaries and also by the
dramatization of its greatest novel written by its greatest author.
On 3 January, a lavish 6-part interpretation of Tolstoy’s
“War and Peace[iii]” got 2016 off to a
beautiful start for Russophiles and lovers of costume drama alike. Reviews of the series have been
overwhelmingly positive, and deservedly so.
Where our national broadcaster also excels is in the
non-fictional world of documentary-making.
Early January was lit up brightly by two one-off programmes about
classical music.
Receiving more
publicity was a third documentary which is about the Tsars. The eminent historian Lucy Worsley has been
explaining in three one-hour programmes entitled “Empire of the Tsars” the story of the Russian royal family, the
Romanovs, and its 300 years of history.
Essential
background that helps us understand the influential country we know today[iv].
Having referred last month to Sarah Quigley’s superb novel
(“The Conductor”) about the siege of
Leningrad and Shostakovich’s composition of his seventh symphony, the broadcast
on 1 January of “Leningrad: the orchestra
that defied Hitler” told the same story factually.
Just like the novel, the documentary was as
thorough as it was realistically upsetting, meticulous and hard-hitting.[v]
It included some persuasive eye-witness
accounts from the St Petersburg concert recounting their version of
half-starved musicians grappling with a complex score.
Archive footage of the composer and of the
city’s horrendous suffering under siege were also presented.
I hope that the presenters, Tom Service and
Amanda Vickery, are recognised for the diligence of their research.
The other documentary was “The Joy of Rachmaninoff,” a recounting of the compositional life of
this great Romantic composer[vi] and presented by Tom
Service. Having referred in last month’s
article to the Rachmaninov Vespers and the performance in Omagh by the
Mariinsky Chorus under Valery Gergiev’s baton in 2000, one revelation resonated
with me. This was the last Church music
that was written and performed before the Bolsheviks and Lenin took brutal charge
of Mother Russia, banning religion and the composition of sacred music.
Russia in recent books
Having emphasised last month the role of fiction in
communicating the horrors of despotism and the wonderful novel “Child 44,” the publication of “On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living
Dangerously in Soviet Politics” sounds like a factual account of the same
issue, namely the Stalinist purges. The
author is Sheila Fitzpatrick.
The review
which caught my attention[vii] listed it as Book of the
week. Aaronovitch explains that this
book sets the record straight, contradicting the official account following
Stalin’s death. It reveals that Stalin’s
inner circle did in fact play a significant role in the purges, the arrests and
imprisonment of two million people. This
together with the execution of 688,503 people between 1935 and 40 was not the
work of Stalin alone. So many victims,
so much horror.
Another recent non-fiction book that stands out is “Winter is coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the
Enemies of the Free World Must be Stopped” written by Garry Kasparov, the
chess grandmaster.
The review which
grabbed my attention[viii]
on this occasion calls it “this brave, trenchant and convincing book.” Its message seems to chime with the current
row over the Alexander Litvinenko murder. Kasparov rails against what the author
describes as the cowardly West which refuses to stop the dangerous regime that currently
misrules Russia.
Finally and returning to fiction, I cannot wait to
receive the latest novel written by the UK Man Booker prize winner (in 2011) Julian
Barnes. “The Noise of Time” has a publication date of 28 January 2016.
It has been previewed with effusive praise by
one critic[ix] as “fictional
biography... this is a great novel...a novel that is powerfully affecting, a
condensed masterpiece that traces the lifelong battle of one man’s conscience,
one man’s art, with the insupportable exigencies of totalitarianism.”
The subject, of course, is Shostakovich.
Russia together with its woes and its beauty is a
never-ending saga, an enigma indeed.
Postscript: My copy of "The Noise of Time" arrived two days after its publication date.
Alex Preston's review is uncannily accurate - powerfully affecting, a masterpiece.
Just as the novel "Child 44" recreates the horror endured by ordinary citizens during Stalin's purges, Julian Barnes puts the reader in the shoes of the great composer to convey the impact of tyranny on creative genius. (MMcS 03202016).
Postscript: My copy of "The Noise of Time" arrived two days after its publication date.
Alex Preston's review is uncannily accurate - powerfully affecting, a masterpiece.
Just as the novel "Child 44" recreates the horror endured by ordinary citizens during Stalin's purges, Julian Barnes puts the reader in the shoes of the great composer to convey the impact of tyranny on creative genius. (MMcS 03202016).
