The reception of Soviet music in the west: A history of sympathy and misunderstandings

Abstract

In this concise survey, the evolution of Western attitudes to Soviet music is retraced: from a certain interest in the early Soviet avant-garde, through “Cold War” attempts to keep alive the works banned under Stalin, to the support of the Soviet avant-garde of the ’60-70s and the recent vogue for Soviet music of a stylistically “moderate” kind, which has never been popular among Russian connoisseurs. Side by side with manifestations of sympathy, some typical misunderstandings are pointed out