The Independent - London, February 7th, 2003
"Papa, what if they hang you for this?" - as the titles of music festivals go, this one's hardly calculated to pull in the punters. But it does make explicit the basic condition under which Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and their contemporaries had to work in Stalin's Russia - constant fear of arrest, torture, deportation and death, fear trickling through everything you did, poisoning all but the most basic of human relationships.
The festival - a series of nine concerts and various other events - runs from 7 to 23 March on London's South Bank, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Prokofiev's dea...
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'Classical: Music to die for To mark the 50th anniversary of Prokofiev's death, a festival will focus on his and Shostakovich's output under Stalin. MARTIN ANDERSON meets its artistic director, Vladimir Ashkenazy'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
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