Yevgeny Yevtushenko will read his poem Babi Yar, following the reading will be the world premiere of the two piano version of the first movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13, based on Yevtushenko's powerful poem.
Duo pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter along with bass Valentin Peytchinov and Patrick Gardner leading the combined male voices of the Riverside Choral Society, the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and the Rutgers University Glee Club.
Also on the program will be Shostakovich's Concertino for Two Pianos and “A Fragment” from Monologue on text of Pushkin, Op. 91, No. 1, with Mr. Peytchinov accompanied by Misha Dichter.
September 27, 2006 in Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
The Germans occupied Kiev on September 19, 1941, and a week later they ordered the city's remaining Jews — mostly women, children, and the elderly, as the men were in the army — to assemble for resettlement. On September 29 and 30, 1941, more than thirty thousand Jews, along with Soviet prisoners of war, gypsies, underground fighters, and others from Kiev were killed by the Nazis and buried in a mass grave at a ravine called Babi Yar. Over the next two years, the number of people killed at babi yar would reach over 100,000.
This mass murder has become a symbol of blind hatred and has become immortalized through the poetry of Mr. Yevtushenko and the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. The two piano version of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 was written by the composer himself and has never been performed or published before. Irina Antonovna, the widow of Shostakovich, has given special permission to the Museum for this performance
“Do you have any other poems... about fears? For me this is a unique opportunity to speak my mind... then no one will be able to ascribe a different meaning to my music.”
Shostakovich at his first meeting with Yevtushenko. (DSCH Journal Summer 2001)
The publication of Yevgeny Yevtushenko's poem Babi Yar was a political event in the Soviet Union in 1961 because it openly considered Russian anti-Semitism. Although the poem makes its case in terms of Nazi and Pre-revolutionary Russian anti-Semitism, Yevtushenko's chose to raise the question of complicity and to challenge the institutionalization of anti-Semitism. The poem was in itself a daring piece of theater, referencing different eras and employing diverse voices.
Shostakovich had originally conceived of the work as a brief cantata for orchestra, bass and chorus. Only after meeting Yevtushenko did Shostakovich decide to use more of the poet's works to fill out a symphony that would take Babi Yar as the starting point of a verbal and musical critique of soviet society.
Symphony No. 13 was a deliberate provocation. For most of the decade before Babi Yar Shostakovich had found a musical balance between saying what he wanted and what he thought the authorities wanted to hear. By the mid 1950's Shostakovich was in a more secure position at home, and of course, considered one of the great masters of twentieth century music in the West. By the early 60s Shostakovich had been able to perform his works more freely and the works that he withheld for so long could be published and performed. He was in a position of prominence and could no longer be easily dismissed or corrected.
By using Yevtushenko's text Shostakovich forced an artistic and political issue, the words ask a question that could not be asked, even given the well couched language of the poem that informs, seemingly without accusing.
Before the Symphony could be performed the work had to be approved by the Soviet Musicians’ Union; the Governmental body that since the 1930s had been attempting to force Shostakovich compositions into the State glorifying template of ”Social Realism”
Shostakovich met the Commissars from the Musicians’ Union with the two piano version of the Symphony, this was a ritual, there are two piano and single piano arrangements of many of Shostakovich's symphonies (including No. 4, his first banned symphony). If we consider this a show down, then the two piano arrangement represents the apex of a power struggle between Shostakovich, and the Soviet authorities. They could work behind the scenes but they could no longer simply silence a work by Shostakovich.
The two piano arrangement is not a “working document”, as a composer's lone piano score might be. It is also not a transcription for publication to gain the work a broader audience. First, Shostakovich never released the two piano arrangement, and second, since his works are being recorded the 19th century custom of “piano centered publicity” would be an anachronism. But ultimately there is the fact that Symphony No. 13 is a work, first and foremost for bass and chorus. If Mahler was a model for Shostakovich in the past, then Symphony No. 13 is his Das Lied von der Erde , Mahler's Symphony in song-cycle form.
Which leaves the audience for this concert in a seat at the Musicians’ Union listening to a document that is the product of an artist forced to submit his work to be vetted for “social relevance” and a document that recognizes and addresses the worst in human nature and collective hatred.
Babi Yar Remembered
Misha Dichter, Piano • Cipa Dichter, Piano
Riverside Choral Society • Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir
Rutgers University Glee Club • Patrick Gardner, Conductor
Valentin Peytchinov, Bass
Shostakovich: Concertino for 2 Pianos
Yevtushenko: Poems, recited by Mr. Yevtushenko
Shostakovich: “A Fragment” from Monologue on text of Pushkin, Op. 91, No. 1
Yevtushenko: Babi Yar Recited by Mr. Yevtushenko
Shostakovich: Babi Yar, the first movement of Symphony No. 13
In the composer's arrangement for bass soloist, male chorus and two pianos (World Premiere)
Babi Yar Remembered: Yevtushenko and Shostakovich in Word and Song
Edmond J. Safra Hall, at 7:00 pm
The Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
Directions
