In the modern era, the eastern Baltics have sought to distance themselves from a sense of Soviet musical legacy, reflected in the increasing need for freedom in the later decades of the Soviet Union that saw differing degrees of musical expression, from relative freedom in Poland to a more restrained but equally creative expression in other Baltic states. Music and Change in the Eastern Baltics goes a considerable way to open new pathways for research in this important subject and provides a thorough introduction to any interested reader.
The editors seek to explore “the ways in which the musical expression of liberation and musicians’ networks contributed to political and cultural change before and after the end of the Cold War” (1). As a result, just about every contribution emphasizes the role of network in producing cultural responses, with fascinating results. The twelve essays are grouped in three parts, the first of which is “Cultural Encounters and Musicians’ Networking.” Rūta Stanevičiūtė writes on Lithuanian and Polish musical networks, characterizing them as both “simple exchanges, but [also] a complex web of entanglements” (15). Stanevičiūtė deftly shows and outlines how cultural networks subsequently influenced social and cultural transformation, vital to the rapid changes that Lithuania and Poland found themselves in during the later years of the Cold War. Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz focuses on discussions of Memory and Freedom in Polish and Lithuanian music, arguing that music “became a kind of weapon” in the two countries’ political struggles (45). Janicka-Słysz argues that the key to the success of this weaponization was the concept of “national memory,” though she demonstrates a wide variety in the understanding and application of this nationalized memory (57). Dominika Micał writes on the musical meetings in Baranów and Sandomierz, both in Poland, as sites of creative exchange. These summer schools provided important opportunities for bringing together musicians from across Poland; Micał concludes that such meetings represented a “distant, safe place outside the real world” (79). Kinga Kiwała closes this first section with a chapter on “generational breakthrough” in 1970s Polish Music, especially the so-called “Generation 51,” comprising of Eugeniusz Knapik, Andrzej Krzanowski, and Aleksander Lasón, also known as the “Stalowa Wola” group, after the festival that made their name. Kiwała produces long music examples from these rare works but offers little in the way of commentary to support the conclusion that “the younger generation only knew the grayness of Communist Poland” (105).
The second section explores “the musical expression of cultural and political liberation.” Iwona Sowińska-Fruhtrunk explores ideas of “freedom” in Krzysztof Penderecki's works, especially in his sacred and commemorative texts, describing the composer's pieces as “a testimony reworked through art” (125). Teresa Malecka explores the life and works of Mikolaj Górecki as a prism for exploring Polish politics since 1950, and does a convincing job of relating the two aspects, though with some terms that invite further discussion, such as “spiritual” as opposed to “political” history (133). Ewa Czacharowska-Zygor then explores the function of music in two films from 1986 and 1990, respectively. Czachworska-Zygor presents an intriguing analysis of Wojciech Marczewski's Escape from the “Liberty” Cinema and Witold Leszczyński's Siekierezada to demonstrate the “threats and challenges faced by artists in the new political reality” (145). Vita Gruodytė concludes the section with a lengthy chapter on independent Lithuanian music festivals in the 1980s and 1990s, positing that “no revolution in music took place in the year 1990; however, music did take part in the revolution” (167). Such music was often experimental or conceptual art, making it a “period of rapid change and strong emotional experiences” (214).
The final section, “Music and Politics Before and After the Fall,” is the most convincing. Kevin C. Karnes explores the concept of “Disco” in the Soviet 1980s, though it quickly emerges that the term hardly applies to western-style music for dancing, but instead for alternative spaces of sonic performance. After a discussion of journeying and belonging, Karnes summaries the truly utopian ideal of this late Soviet Disco space through “the creation and maintenance of social venues––at least one social venue––that were open and accessible to everyone who wished to join” (250). Peter J. Schmelz's chapter examines the 1980s US-Soviet Cultural Exchanges in the sphere of Jazz by focusing on the experiences of the Ganelin Trio and the Rova Saxophone Quartet. Schmelz traces the different journeys of both ensembles and also relates them to differing views of “freedom” in the US and the USSR (264). He concludes that the experiences of these musicians in the 1980s were disillusioning: “when glasnost equals jazz and jazz equals glasnost, for some the importance of the music was soon lost” (290).
Andrzej Mądro writes on Polish alternative Jazz (or “yass”) and the band Miłość to present a “microhistory” of Poland since 1994. Mądro argues “yass openly and radically opposed the musical canons and hierarchies of art and pop culture” (301) through its opposition to just about all preconceptions, creating a “living myth of an idealistic artistic movement striving for the true and final liberation of sounds and words” (304). The collection concludes with Olga Manulkina's chapter on composer Leonid Desyatnikov and his critical reception, especially the numerous commotions and scandals that have followed his work since the 1990s. Manulkina deftly describes the post-Soviet effect on contemporary music: “freedom from censorship in the period was accompanied by economic crises . . . the system of state concerts was destroyed, composers lost royalties, and festivals had to limit themselves to chamber ensembles” (318).
The resulting collection is a persuasive set of commentaries on the unique role of cultural exchange and creation in the eastern Baltics in the late Soviet era and years immediately after the collapse. While some authors present such detailed case studies that we struggle to see wider commentary, the volume as a whole provides a compelling overview of this body of work that will serve as a valuable roadmap to readers and listeners.
