Losing my head over Dmitri Shostakovich
There was long silence inside the Southwest Minnesota State University Campus Religious Center before Dr. Daniel Rieppel finally struck the key on the piano hard.
He struck the key hard again and again.
The intensity then subsided with some meek plucks at the violin strings by Brian Krinke. And then Jane Cords-O’Hara followed with some soft plucking on her cello.
But then Dr. Rieppel returned the intensity on the piano.
It was the last segment of the chamber music performance as part of a three-part series called Russian Troika. It’s in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The first part, which took place Thursday evening, featured the music of Arvo Part, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. The music are remnants of the reaction to the Soviet Union repression.
I was drawn to the SMSU Religious Center for a couple of reasons.
One, every so often, it doesn’t hurt to take in some culture.
And two, our current political climate. It has created a roller coaster for Americans. We experienced a little calmness after the wild election campaign that allowed Donald Trump to swoop into the White House.
But now every day in the news business is a crazy day.
From Michael Flynn to the spy ship off our east coast, Russia is now on our minds.
The roller coaster thought crossed my mind while listening to the Allegretto piece being performed at the end of the musical performance.
Even my friend Dusan was intrigued. He showed up for the performance for the same reasons.
He enjoys taking in some culture when it arrives in Marshall. But also had the present political climate on his mind as well.
“Marshall needs more things like this,” Dusan said. “(Next) Thursday is going to be interesting talking about politics.
The second part is a Russian Roundtable called “Playing Russian Roulette with the American Election of 2016.” It will be next Thursday, 7 to 7:30 p.m. inside the William Whipple Gallery at SMSU. Dr. Rieppel and Dr. Anthony Amato, social science professor, will moderate the discussion.
“It’s appropriately titled ‘Playing Russian Roulette with the American Election.’ I will leave it at that,” Dr. Rieppel said Thursday night.
“We are having an expert coming from upstate who is Russian with some interesting things to talk about. Not just the current state, although this three-part series is in commemoration of the Russian Revolution – its centennial is this year. People lost their head back then. And apparently we are still losing our heads with our arrangement and our somewhat torturous, somewhat conflicting relationship with our brothers and sisters in Russia.
“It’s funny the Russian Revolution still resonates yet today.”
While you are still trying to figure out if the Russians are our friends or not, you can take in the final Russian Troika event 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Religious Center. Dr. Stephen Carlson, the music department chair at Bemidji State University, will hold a solo recital of musical selections from Stravinsky and Rachmaninov.
Maybe some soothing music is in order after the Russian roulette now being played in Washington, D.C.
You can follow Mike Lamb at Twitter@indymlamb
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