During the Cold War between the United States and the USSR, there were battles of just about everything, save boots and rifles. In particular, the contrasting parties were at each other’s throats trying to simultaneously destroy the other’s and promote their own political ideologies by means of speeches, take-overs, culture, and media; trying their very hardest to obtain and maintain international superiority after the recent world war. As far as the latter two go, the respective parties went at it in somewhat contrasting and interesting ways: the USSR had a changing policy regarding the allowance of Western influence, while the United States essentially could only play the game by Stalin’s rules until his death. Let us go back to the immediate-post-war
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The most known musicians who were a part would definitely be the Red Army Choir (who sing a mix of Russian folk songs and others composed by Lev Knipper, Viktor Gusev, and Konstantyn Dankevych to name a few), Dmitri Shostakovich (who really hated Stalin and subtly composed against him and Communist ideals, but was still paid to write for them), and Sergei Prokofiev. If you listen to some recordings of performances (I’d personally recommend just about anything by the Red Army Choir, but namely the National Anthem, The Red Army is the Strongest, and The Cossacks), you can just hear exactly what the composers (and Communist government) were going for: an incredibly strong, exciting, and manly blast of culture to fill a room with Soviet …show more content…
After the signing of the first cultural agreement in 1958, which permitted exchanges of music, radio, television, motion pictures, etc., citizens of the USSR who’ve been “isolated from Western culture since the 1930s” were able to get a fresh of breath air, as far as music is concerned (Richmond); there were numerous concerts right off the bat, ranging from the Ney York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, to artists like Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, and Benny Goodman, who had a successful 32-concert-tour himself in the Soviet
The most known musicians who were a part would definitely be the Red Army Choir (who sing a mix of Russian folk songs and others composed by Lev Knipper, Viktor Gusev, and Konstantyn Dankevych to name a few), Dmitri Shostakovich (who really hated Stalin and subtly composed against him and Communist ideals, but was still paid to write for them), and Sergei Prokofiev. If you listen to some recordings of performances (I’d personally recommend just about anything by the Red Army Choir, but namely the National Anthem, The Red Army is the Strongest, and The Cossacks), you can just hear exactly what the composers (and Communist government) were going for: an incredibly strong, exciting, and manly blast of culture to fill a room with Soviet …show more content…
After the signing of the first cultural agreement in 1958, which permitted exchanges of music, radio, television, motion pictures, etc., citizens of the USSR who’ve been “isolated from Western culture since the 1930s” were able to get a fresh of breath air, as far as music is concerned (Richmond); there were numerous concerts right off the bat, ranging from the Ney York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, to artists like Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, and Benny Goodman, who had a successful 32-concert-tour himself in the Soviet