Advantages of Foreign Imperialism

Finland reached the independence before the communists took control over Russia. But there's something interesting in Finland. Apparently their musicians, especially Sibelius, are seen like national heroes, because they represent a huge part of the nation's identity.

In Russia, probably there haven't been many widely known composers, for the reasons you say and because probably in most cases the russian audience is more interested in what they couldn't see many years. I know cases of people from Western Europe getting big commissions from Russians. Maybe they think they need to get updated. That is an interesting phenomenon

I was fortunate to travel as a journalist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra during its 1998 European tour, which closed with two concerts in Tallinn, Estonia, the hometown of then music director Neeme Jarvi, who is treated like a rock star whenever he returns to Estonia. I was struck by the degree to which Estonians --from the president of the country to the halter-top women in the hotel disco -- were aware of the cultural importance of classical music figures like Jarvi.
In a piece for the Free Press I wrote: "Jarvi's place in the Estonian psyche transcends his musical gifts, burrowing deep into the nation's soul, both its cultural identity and its political ambitions. As soon as Jarvi and his family emigrated to the West in 1980, he began to champion the Estonian composers whose works the Soviet authorities had forbidden him to perform at home -- Arvo Part, Eduard Tubin and many others. Jarvi's concerts and recordings were patriotic flares announcing the wealth of musical talent produced by this Baltic nation of just 1.5 million.
'The way a small country can feel herself part of the world community is not through battles or armies,' explained Lennart Meri, the president of the Republic of Estonia. 'We have one means: That is cultural identity. That's why we attach so much importance to music, poetry and painting.'"

To Diego Chávez-Vargas: oh come on -- "In Russia, probably there haven't been many widely known composers" -- Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Schedrin, as wel as Rimsly-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rachmaninoff, Borodin, Mussorgsky, etc etc etc -- not too many, right? ;-))

"In Russia, probably there haven't been many widely known composers" I am talking of a contemporary context. Only Schnittke and Shchedrin from that list, and add a few others, but internationally they haven't had the importance of their predecesors, like Stravinsky, or Tchaikovsky. Of course I know that Russia is famous for it's talented musicians.

Diego,

"probably in most cases the russian audience is more interested in what they couldn't see many years."

Russia's audience is not as small and united (unified?) as the audiences in smaller countries like Estonia or Finland (Finland's population is smaller than the population of Moscow City alone,) so an analysis of Russian audiences as a whole, and their interests and/or perceptions, needs a rock solid factual base, which even I cannot claim to have. I more or less know the audiences in Moscow and St.Petersburg; here, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidullina, Iraida Yusupova, Vladimir Martynov, Alexander (Sasha) Knaifel, Igor Kefalidi, Leonid Desyatnikov, Andrey Semyonov, Sergey Zagniy, Faradj Karayev, Nikita Koshkin, Oleg Karavaichuk etc. etc. etc. --- are performed, known, and appreciated. Yes, the appreciation for the music of, say, Sergey Zagniy is smaller than that of Pyotr Tchaikovsky (and even Boris Tchaikovsky.) Still, modern composers have some audience. As of their international fame (or the lack of it,) you were speaking about the internal situation in Russia and of Russian audiences, right?

Yes, I was talking about it, but when I said "what they couldn't see many years" I was talking about the international, and not only Russian contemporary or modern composers. Or were John Cage or Stockhausen played commonly in the 50's and 60's?