plague on both your homes (R. A. Nasonov is interviewed by A. A. Amrakhova)

Abstract
R. A. Nasonov reflects on the origins of the metaphorical division into “right” and “left” in art, addressing such topics as the artist and power, the artist and ideology. According to the author, everything ultimately rests on the fundamental dichotomy of the traditional and the innovative. In the twentieth century, the “left” is expressed not so much in the invention of new techniques of composition and, as a consequence, in the expansion of ideas about what constitutes the material of musical art, but rather in attempts to discredit traditional (“philharmonic”) music-making as such and to offer alternatives to it. So, at least, it is seen from a historical distance.
Time neutralizes the effect of both “leftism” itself and any manifestations of innovation in art, however revolutionary they may seem to contemporaries. The work of A. Schnittke is an illustrative example. Even today we admire many of the composer's works, but we tend to interpret them as a natural continuation of the traditions of concert music, an attempt to fill academic genres with new life—based on Schnittke's experience of communicating with a wide audience, gained not least through his work in the Soviet film industry. His rare ability to “liberate” musicians and audiences, distancing himself from both leftist nihilism and sentimental conservatism colored by conformism, determines the relevance of his legacy today. The sound of Schnittke's “major opuses” on the modern concert stage is not only a tribute to the memory of an outstanding compatriot but also a unique impulse that points us towards the future of academic art.

Keywords
А. G. Schnittke, “left and right” in art, avant-gardism and tradition, profound narrative