by Piotr Orlov
Even in election years, the music-and-politics story isn’t always about the soundtrack of the campaign trail. Sometimes it’s about the soundtrack behind the DMZ.
The New York Philharmonic Orchestra made news this week by traveling to North Korea to play what turned out to be a historic, internationally televised concert in Pyongyang on Tuesday. The visit took on both ambassadorial and artistic trappings. The trip was the first-ever to North Korea by an American cultural organization, and included the biggest delegation of Americans to visit the country since the end of the Korean War in 1953. It also included a Wednesday morning rehearsal during which members of the Philharmonic and the Orchestra’s musical director Lorin Maazel played with the State Symphony Orchestra of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, allowing for historic interaction between groups of people who may as well be ghosts to one another. (It may be the first of many: if reports of continued cultural exchange are to be believed, classic rock/blues legend Eric Clapton may be following the Phil to play for and with the North Koreans.)
It’s unlikely that anyone involved with this undertaking is fool enough to believe that symphonic hootenannies over Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky have the power to unravel strict national interests. But those dubious of the part music plays in thawing international relations need only to harken back to the Cold War, when jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington continually traveled around the world on behalf of the U.S. State Department. Tales of how jazz may have done more than the American government to stall worldwide totalitarianism are far and wide; and if you’re keen on a few anecdotes, you’d be worse off than starting with Penny Von Eschen’s “Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War.” Who knows: we may have seen the latest act in the grand play of music vs. the wall begin this week.
Setlist - New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Lorin Maazel), East Pyongyang Grand Theater, Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, February 26, 2008:
“Aegukka” (North Korean national anthem)
“Star-Spangled Banner”
“Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin” by Richard Wagner
“Symphony No. 9 – 'From the New World'" by Antonin Dvorak
“American in Paris” by George Gershwin
Encores:
“Candide” by Leonard Bernstein
“Arirang” (Korean folk song)
Further Reading:
Music review of the New York Philharmonic in North Korea (New York Times)
Penny Von Eschen interview (Jerry Jazz Musician)
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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