Sonic Overload: Alfred Schnittke, Valentin Silvestrov, and Polystylism in the Late USSR

by Peter J. Schmelz

Sonic Overload offers a new, music-centered cultural history of the late Soviet Union. It focuses on polystylism in music as a response to the information overload swamping listeners in the Soviet Union during its final decades. It traces the ways in which leading composers Alfred Schnittke and Valentin Silvestrov initially embraced popular sources before ultimately rejecting them.

Polystylism first responded to the utopian impulses of Soviet ideology with utopian impulses to encompass all musical styles, from high to low. But these initial all-embracing aspirations were soon followed by retreats to alternate utopias founded on carefully selecting satisfactory borrowings, as familiar hierarchies of culture, taste, and class reasserted themselves. Looking at polystylism in the late USSR tells us about past and present, near and far, as it probes the musical roots of the
overloaded, distracted present.

Based on archival research, oral historical interviews, and other overlooked primary materials, as well as close listening and thorough examination of scores and recordings, Sonic Overload presents a multilayered and comprehensive portrait of late-Soviet polystylism and cultural life, and of theBmusic of Silvestrov and Schnittke. Sonic Overload is intended for musicologists and Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian specialists in history, the arts, film, and literature, as well as readers interested in twentieth- and twenty-first century music; modernism and postmodernism; quotation and collage; the intersections of high and low cultures; and politics and the arts.

Genres: Music

430 pages, Hardcover

First published December 22, 2020

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1960s, several Russian composers, some of whom had passed through a phrase of high modernism and serialism, began to mix references to other musical styles into their modernist works, from the classical canon to contemporary rock or pop music. Two of the most famous composers to do this were Alfred Schnittke and Valentin Silvestrov, and this book traces the development of their style.

Peter J. Schmelz is an expert on Schnittke and always has interesting insights that expand appreciation of that composer’s music. He breaks down the several distinct periods of Schnittke’s polystylism, some of which I intuitively grasped, others that had been more subtle. He shows how Schnittke’s understanding of polystylism shifted over time, from the early works (Symphony No. 1) representing a depiction of musical democracy, but then later works (e.g. the Faust Cantata) using pop-music references instead as a diabolical element. Schmelz takes the reader also to Schnittke’s bleak last phrase, when any polystylism seems to have died out, and there is helpful discussion of the Symphony No. 6.

For Silvestrov, we go from the earliest temperings of his serialist phrase to his breakthrough into first “kitsch music” (Quiet Songs) and then his “postlude” era. For the latter phrase, there is a detailed breakdown of the Symphony No. 5 With this composer, however, Schmelz stops at around 1998 (the Requiem for Larissa), with only the briefest mention of Silvestrov’s later music. This may be due to the disappointment that many feel with Silvestrov’s late works that feel like pure shlock.

Besides discussing these two composers’ works and worldview, Schmelz also gets into theoretical issues about what polystylism is exactly, and the reaction of various critics and artists in the USSR to this trend. I admit to finding this less interesting, as a mere fan of these composers, but it may represent a useful academic contribution for others.