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Tikhon Khrennikov in Interview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Extract

No-one in his right mind would want to be in Tikhon Khrennikov's shoes. He has the dubious distinction of being the number two villain of Shostakovich's memoirs Testimony, second only to Stalin. Shostakovich nicknamed him the ‘bloodhound’. But he is also a curious historical survival: the only dictator of an arts organization in the Soviet Union who was appointed by Stalin and, 42 years later, still occupies the same position, his head still on his shoulders.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

* Gornostaeva, Vera, ‘Does Art Belong to the People?’ (Sovyetskaya Kultura, 02 1988)Google Scholar. This article – whose title of course adapts Lenin's famous slogan – was written as a follow-up and corroborarion of one by the composer Dashkevitch, Vladimir (Sovyetskaya Kultura, 05 1987) ennded ‘Everything Quieter and Quieter and Quieter’. The Russian word for ‘quieter’. Tishe, is also the diminutive form of ‘Tikhon’. (Ed.)Google Scholar

* Since this interview took place, Repin has won the Queen Elizabeth Competition for violinists in Brussels, and Sultanov the 1989 Van Cliburn International Competition for pianists in Fort Worth, Texas.

(From Mr Heikinheimo's letter of 20 March): Let me mention that this interview was translated into Russian. According to his secretary, Khrennikov was extremely pleased with it and so full of praise that modesty prevents me from repeating his words. When I met him briefly in February, his face shone more brightly than the sun shines in Uganda. A strange fellow…