Life and Fate - the Plays (ii)

Classic Serial—Viktor and the Academy
What is great about the second and concluding Classic Serial is that it contains normal problems that every family faces (Nadya, a teenager, sneaking out to meet her boyfriend and the inability of her father to confront her about it in an adult manner; neighbors and friends jealous over money and status; scientists and colleagues jealous of each other and the complex relationships between men like Academician Shishakov and “the young grandee” Badin with “real” scientists; an affair that has yet to blossom between Viktor and his wife’s best friend) with those unique to the time and place (Lyuda’s inability to get over Tolya’s death; Zhenya’s obsession with Krymov; Viktor’s betrayal, downfall, and the extraordinary call from Stalin; his subsequent test of faith and the hardest decisions that a person should never have to make.

This play includes some quite electrifying moments, of which the Stalin phone call is just one, and the cast rose to the occasion almost every time (it was the last day of recording for much of this material and sometimes it was difficult to keep focus). One decision I really don’t understand is the music being played under the section where Viktor second-guesses his decision not to attend the meeting which would decide his fate at the Academy. It doesn’t help the atmosphere at all. Perhaps I should address the music choice in general now, which was provided by John Hardy and Rob Whitehead. I have no idea what kind of score I was expecting, perhaps something more orchestral, but the score was not at all how I expected. Music is used sparingly in Life and Fate, though the main theme is repeated often, though it alternated between which wind instruments carried the main melody and whether balalaika (I think?) was interspersed or not. There was very little actual singing, the only examples I can recall being a popular song, Zina singing, and the patriotic choral music in the last play.

The inclusion of much more scientific “technobabble” from Viktor was effective but a bit startling when it started off the episode—having heard it recorded and having heard it again here, I’m still not sure I understand what it means.

In a strange way, after the last play, I didn’t really want the story to end. Although the key victory at Stalingrad had been achieved, and it seemed most of the characters were headed for disaster (Zhenya and Krymov headed for exile; Vera, Spirodonov, and the Stalingrad gang also headed for Siberia; Alexandra: fate unknown; Katya and Seryoszha: probably dead; Zina: imminent death; Novikov: fate unknown; the Shtrums: fate unknown; Masha and Sokolov: probably fall from favor; Viktorov, Tolya, Grekov, Abarchuk, Sofya, Anna, Jenni: dead), I still wanted the story to carry on. I certainly cared about these characters, flawed though all of them were.

I really hope people listened to Life and Fate. I heard that book sales were way up, there were reviews in major papers, and there was much publicity. Despite all that, I can’t seem to get any opinions from anyone I know, despite having tirelessly exhorted people to listen to it.