| Mikhail Gorbachev was offered the voice of “The Wolf and Petya” Mikhail Gorbachev is about to remind the Western public of his existence. True, this time his main audience will be children. Next week, the first and only president of the USSR is to take part in a major charity project of the Russian National Orchestra. He was invited to voice the new musical fairy tale “The Wolf and Peter”. This sequel to Prokofiev's famous "Peter and the Wolf" was written by the Frenchman Jean-Pascal Beinthus. RNO clearly intends to make the project a cult and, in order to increase the status of “The Wolf and Petit,” risked attracting people, although widely known, who are quite far from classical music. So, last year the text of fairy tales for RNO was spoken by the famous actress Sophia Loren and former US President Bill Clinton. Now the producers of the project have achieved the consent of Mikhail Gorbachev. What makes the situation especially poignant is that Mr. Gorbachev will read the text in English. As you know, during his reign, Mikhail Sergeevich was not noted for his close acquaintance with foreign languages, and “voice acting” requires at least conversational skills. Otherwise, the sound engineer will have to write take after take until the reader can finally repeat the correct intonation.
However, the determination with which Mr. Gorbachev took up artistic reading in the language of his former potential enemy certainly deserves respect. After all, this RNO project is a charitable one; all “guest stars” transfer their fees to various public funds. And no one can blame the retired president for wanting to make easy money, as was the case, for example, after Mr. Gorbachev’s participation in a pizza advertisement broadcast in Europe. Even if “The Wolf and Peter” from Gorbachev, from an artistic point of view, does not become the “event of the year” in the world of culture, participation in this project will not cause rejection among the public. This same Clinton, although far from a jazz star, sometimes plays his favorite saxophone for the public, and people accept it quite good-naturedly.
Although it is certainly more difficult for Mikhail Gorbachev than for Clinton. Russian society has not yet formed norms and standards for what political retirees should do with their lives. It’s the same thing in the West: after the end of their political careers, presidents of countries become vice-presidents of corporations and engage in normal “representative activities.” In other words, they lobby for the interests of their new employers. In France, the ex-president is guaranteed the post of member of the constitutional council. This sinecure is both honorable and dust-free; this body does not have much influence on big-time politics. The famous German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, after his resignation in 1982, continued to play an active role in shadow politics, gave lectures, organized public funds and in every possible way “represented the interests of Germany”, and the ex-President of Poland Lech Walesa traveled around the world giving paid lectures and even became member of the board of directors of an American computer company. But Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as President of the Czech Republic, is going to return to his main profession as a playwright.
In Russia, there are still very few examples of top politicians who have found their place in life even after leaving the political scene. Mikhail Gorbachev, by and large, practically did not participate in the public life of Russia after 1991 (one cannot take seriously his attempt to stand as a candidate in the 1996 presidential elections). Boris Yeltsin hid in almost the same way after his “New Year’s resignation,” although recently he has begun to appear in public more often. His fan visit to Paris for the Davis Cup final probably played an important role in promoting the victory of our tennis team. It’s not worth talking about the politicians of the Soviet period: the rare leaders of the CPSU who did retire were immediately “forgotten,” and the few who have survived to this day prefer to lead a quiet retirement life. So, against this smooth gray background, Gorbachev’s project with “The Wolf and Petya” looks at least original. Vladimir DZAGUTO |
|
