Classical Music and Cold War : Musicians in
the GDR
A film by Thomas Zintl
Featuring artists and contemporary witnesses including Peter
Schreier, Kurt Masur, Jochen Kowalski and Siegfried Lorenz
German language (subtitles in Italian, English, French and Spanish)
Region Code: 0; Aspect Ratio: 16:9; PCM Stereo
ARTHAUS 101655 DVD [52:00]
The documentary is fascinating and frustrating in roughly equal
terms. In some ways it’s a history of classical music
in the GDR (East Germany) between 1945 and 1989, but it tells
that story with the lightest of touches. It mentions issues
such as the value the Russian occupiers put on culture and how
quickly the cultural institutions of East Germany were built
up after 1945 - and to what end - as well as the cultural consequences
of the building of the Berlin Wall. However, it touches on all
of these things only very lightly, and it often left me with
more questions than answers. We are introduced to fascinating
characters such as Walter Felsenstein, the intendant of the
Deutsche Oper Berlin after it was rebuilt on Unter den Linden,
but no sooner are their stories introduced than they are snatched
away. I wanted to know, for example, about the extent of state
intervention in programming and repertoire, but beyond a brief
discussion on formalism there was very little about that at
all.
The other main focus is on what it was like to be an artist
during this period, and it explores a little of what it was
like to be an internationally respected artistic institution
in the GDR, such as the Staatskapelle Dresden or the Thomanenchor,
and the issues that followed them on international tours. The
highest profile individual featured is tenor Peter Schreier,
who speaks of what it was like to be a soloist working in both
east and west. Various musicians speak of the difficulties of
getting permission to travel to the west, as well as the dilemmas
surrounding defection. Most intriguingly of all, some spoke
of being recruited by the Stasi as collaborators, but again
this thread disappeared before it was properly explored.
The most interesting section, for me, dealt with the state recording
company, Eterna/Deutsche Schallplatten. Its history and success
makes for an interesting story, as is the tale of the company’s
cooperation with Deutsche Grammophon - the companies would often
reach an agreement where Eterna would release a recording in
the Comecon countries and DG would license it everywhere else.
One man who worked for Deutsche Schallplatten says, tellingly,
that “in the GDR records were as important as food: people
needed them to escape from their everyday problems.” They
also talk briefly about Karajan’s Meistersinger
recording in Dresden and the issues that surrounded that but,
again, as soon as I was getting into the story I found them
moving on to something else. The Wende and the collapse
of the GDR are barely mentioned at all before the film ends.
If this story is worth telling - and it surely is - then isn’t
it worth taking more time to tell it properly?
Simon Thompson
If this story is worth telling - and it surely is - then isn’t
it worth taking more time to tell it properly?