Open your ears, open your mind
Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the central composers in this year’s festival, was given a sharp reprimand by the Soviet authorities in 1948. He and other ‘modernists’ were accused of writing music that insufficiently expressed Russia’s greatness. For the political elite music had to be cheerful or not exist at all. It could not be played or heard unless it sang the praises of the unconditionally blissful Russian people, preferably with the composer adding a dash of bombast and nationalistic bluster, in a spirit of ‘Make Russia Great Again’.
No, tyrants (whether in Russia or elsewhere) are not fond of art, unless of course they can manipulate it to suit their ideology and use it as a weapon of mass deception. Art is an annoying enemy of anyone aiming to restrict freedom of thought and expression; music – and especially ‘difficult’ music – is the arch enemy, since its deeper meanings can lie hidden underneath its abstractness. Any kind of authentic art hinders the tyrant in maintaining his cult of one-sided dogmatism. Real art creates a universe in which vulnerability is allowed, diversity is embraced, and ‘value’ is not an exclusively economic concept. It seeks out boundaries instead of certainties, especially imposed ones; it prompts us to think, to have empathy, to understand; it shines a light in our brains and in our hearts.
This is why we have to cherish the arts, especially now that even in Western countries, art is being forced into a narrow-minded ideological straitjacket. At Festival 20·21, our aim is to relentlessly keep contributing to these efforts by presenting music from the recent past that deserves our attention. Besides Shostakovich, you’ll hear Galina Ustvolskaya, Kaija Saariaho, Arvo Pärt, Hans Abrahamsen, James MacMillan and others raising their voices in this edition. Some are armed with boxing gloves or a wrecking hammer, and others with a gentle touch. Whatever language they speak, though, they’re all looking for values that far transcend the simplism of tyrants. It’s why more than ever, we invite you to open your ears and open your mind, without limits.
Real art creates a universe in which vulnerability is allowed, diversity is embraced, and ‘value’ is not an exclusively economic concept.