Turn on the power of music
PIANIST Sonya Lifschitz will play Australian composer Robert Davidson’s new multimedia work Stalin’s Piano as part of Mofo 2018 this month.
Written especially for Lifschitz, Stalin’s Piano features 20 vignettes with historical audio and visual footage, accompanied by spoken voice and piano by Lifschitz.
Lifschitz said Stalin’s Piano — which was initially inspired by Lifschitz’s favourite Russian pianist and activist, Maria Yudina — focused on the relationship between the arts and politics, the individual and the state, and the link between speech and music.
“The kernel, the heart, is Yudina,” she said.
“Growing up in Russia she was my absolute hero. She was an incredible woman: defiant, bold, powerful, courageous, fierce and a stunning, spectacular pianist, the stuff of legends.
“The story Shostakovich tells in his book was that even though she was often banned and exiled, a recording of her playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 was on Stalin’s record player next to his deathbed. That was the starting point for us.
“It perfectly encapsulates the theme of conflicts of power and creativity and the power of music and art to defy oppression, tyranny and dictatorship.”
Lifschitz said Davidson “listens to speech in the way a portraitist looks at a face”.
“He listens for the inherent melodic contour, intonations, patterns and inflections,” she said.
“The music is written in a way that really primes our perception of speech as music. Hearing the voice that way really gets into the psychology of the person and the deeper meaning of what they are trying to say.”
Lifschitz will present Stalin’s Piano in Mona’s Organ Room from 11.30pm on January 19, and from 5.30pm on January 20.
Go to www.mona.net.au for bookings.