Even if the rest of the West had a little trouble deciding which side of the fence to launch political missiles from during the Russo-Georgian conflict last summer, the reaction of Foreign Secretary David Miliband was immediate and firm. ‘Brains’, as he’s known in cabinet, urged ‘hard-headed engagement’ with Moscow after the Russian invasion of South Ossetia whilst delivering a strong message of support for Georgia from Tbilisi itself. It was a gesture of principle and confidence which crowned a reputation-building summer for Miliband. It must have felt pretty good, too, coming just weeks after some respected colleagues had urged him to challenge Gordon Brown for the labour party’s leadership.
One wonders, though, how the conversation fared around the kitchen table back at the Miliband’s home, where the Foreign Secretary’s wife, Louise Shackelton, is emerging as an increasingly fascinating figure. She was reported by The Times to have encouraged her husband to launch a leadership bid in early August, but that was a few weeks before the situation in South Ossetia became critical. It’s a good job, because Ms Shackelton has one or two allegiances of her own. As a violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra, she finds herself frequently under the command of conductor Valery Gergiev, the LSO’s iconic, unshaven Principal Conductor and a significant force in Russian politics.
Amongst maestri, Gergiev has a superlative reputation based chiefly his ability to coax the best noises from orchestras through innate musicianship and non-reliance on a standard conducting technique. He was offered the job at the London Symphony Orchestra – Britain’s best-funded ensemble and the only UK orchestra to make it into Gramophone magazine’s recent poll of the 20 best orchestras in the world – in 2005, and is a workaholic globetrotter, prone to overstretching himself. Players generally respect him, but on the London orchestral scene, where you don’t arrive late for a rehearsal no matter where your private jet has delivered you from, there has allegedly been tension between Gergiev and his LSO players.
Whatever the truth of that allegation, Gergiev certainly isn’t as attached to his LSO players as he is to those of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, of which he remains Artistic Director. As an ethnic Ossetian who holds significant sway in Russia, Gergiev was able to mobilize the Mariisnky orchestra in a matter of hours on 21 August – getting it to the Ossetian capital Tskhinvali for a concert in the city’s ruined Civic Centre. A performance of Shostakovich’s Seventh and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphonies took place that evening laden with political meaning, most of it Pro-Russian. Speaking alongside Gergiev on the podium, the President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity blamed the west – ‘America and the Ukraine’ – for the descent into war (some 24 hours earlier Miliband had rejoiced in Georgia and the Ukraine’s new-found path to NATO membership). Soldiers waved Russian flags as the Mariinsky’s Principal Percussionist beat out Shostakovich’s inexorable Bolero-inspired rhythm depicting the 1941 siege of Leningrad. In the both the physical and musical acts of this performance, Gergiev appeared nothing less than a conjurer - just as he did in 2006 when he shocked the music world by suddenly unveiling a new concert hall for his St Petersburg orchestra, built in a matter of months. This appeared a miracle to many Russians, who are used to watching for years as their car parks and road resurfacings slowly and laboriously materialise.
Perhaps Gergiev got it done with a little help from his friends. One of whom, and a very close one too, is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – the man accused by former US presidential hopeful John McCain of creating an ‘autocracy’ in Russia. Gergiev is reportedly godfather to Putin’s children and vice versa. The two have stood shoulder to shoulder on a number of issues, though Gergiev is keen to project himself as a force for good in a troubled world. His powerful and uplifting performances can be immensely moving, and he acted with statesmanlike calm and reassurance after the Beslan school siege in 2004. But recently, Gergiev's outspoken support for Russia’s actions in Georgia, the territorial positioning of his Tskhinvali concert and his closeness to Putin have all sketched a rather different portrait of the artist. It must be a talking point for Shackelton and Miliband, particularly as the foreign secretary likes to visit the Barbican Centre to watch his wife performing with Gergiev. Recently, he’s proved himself all too aware of the iconic significance of musical collaboration. Last month he witnessed his wife playing a Brahms Piano Quintet with another politico-musician, the ivory-tickling US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
I spoke to another violinist in September, the much respected virtuoso Lisa Batiashvili. She was born in Tbilisi, but left during Georgia’s difficult days under the Mugabe-style presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze. But in March 2008 Batiashvili returned to work with the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, recording folk songs from the country arranged by her musician father after original miniatures by Sulkan Tsintsadze. As the Sony Classical record neared its release date, Georgia and Russia lurched into conflict, and as we spoke, the fallout from that conflict was becoming visible. And so the conversation turned from the nature of Georgian music to the nature of Georgian life. ‘Georgians are having to re-start everything from zero’ she told me. Batiashvili is a formidable talent and presence; a widely respected performer. But talking about the conflict, you could sense the protective sadness in her voice. She wouldn’t be drawn into commenting on Gergiev’s actions, but spoke frankly and emotionally about Russian aggression and bullying towards Georgia – echoing many of Miliband’s post-invasion comments, though in strikingly frank and non-political language.
No matter how rousing and touching her passion for Georgia, political posturing isn’t Batiashvili’s style. But it is Gergiev’s. His performances of music by the likes of Shostakovich and Prokofiev highlight – intentionally or not, for he has moved towards a desire to express politically-laden music in purely abstract terms – the oppression of Soviet Russia; an oppression which ironically spawned so much great music. But on viewing the well-publicised shot of Gergiev brotherly eyeballing Vladimir Putin post-concert, you somehow feel Gergiev’s humanist currency being debased. A creative colleague of Gergiev’s from the Mariinsky, the Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, launched a fierce attack on Russian oppression following the war. Gergiev’s reaction was dismissive and rhetorical. He talks of death, reconciliation, healing – all of which his music illuminates. But with Putin at his side and a Russian flag waving victoriously over South Ossetia, freedom of thought seems to be left waiting in the wings. Like Ananiashvili, Miliband continues to stick his neck out in pointing to Russian aggression, even in the face of recent allegations from the BBC’s Newsnight that Georgia wasn’t entirely the wronged party. Perhaps, as one reader post on The Times website observes, music should side with humanity, not friends. If Louise Shackelton does become a prime ministerial wife one day, the observance of this mantra could make her the picture of decorum and integrity – qualities with which it became increasingly difficult to associate Cherie Blair.
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