Sad news from Moscow: Arthur Arnold resigns

Arthur Arnold (Facebook photo)

Arthur Arnold has resigned as the music director of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. It's the orchestra that recorded an album of previously unavailable Alexander Mosolov music; I did several posts about it, including this piece. 

Here is Mr. Arnold's posting on Facebook announcing his decision:

"It is with the greatest conviction and with an immense sadness that I resign from my position as music director of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in Russia, effective immediately.

"The MSO is not state-supported and has never been since its inception in 1989. Nonetheless, I feel that I cannot collaborate with a country whose president chooses war as a solution to conflict and causes incredible human tragedy.

"The fruitful artistic cooperation, which started with a concert in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2004, will be sorely missed.

"My heart goes out to the people in Ukraine and everyone suffering from this needless war. I am proud to join with the countless people across the world who are raising their voices and taking a stand."

Judging from the comments, most agree with Arnold but a few believe it was the wrong decision, as the orchestra is independent of the Russian state (as Arnold himself says). 

Here is the post, with comments. 

The patron behind the Mosolov album and what were supposed to be other efforts to bring Russian music to life, e.g. the "Mosolov project," is Max Gutbrod. He commented,

"Reminds me of the discussion of Furtwänglers role in Nazi time. My impression was that the real issue with him was that he decorated events for the regime and later on did as if he were not involved. In contrast, already when we did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mza8p_iM2gE... together it was rather non-official, a type of opposition type. More broadly, I would think music can help to oppose, and there are great examples of the same, not least Mrs. Kalesnikava. Be it as it may, I am looking forward to exploring options to further the Mosolov-project with Arthur Arnold."

I hope he can find workable options.