The Spirit in Moscow

Moscow was reeling under the heaviest American cultural onslaught in its history. Within the space of only a few weeks, Bass Jerome Hines had launched a Russian tour from the stage of the Bolshoi, Igor Stravinsky had returned to his homeland, and George Balanchine had arrived with his New York City Ballet. Then, almost unheralded, the Robert Shaw Chorale turned up last week and outdid them all. At an opening concert at Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the 34-member choral group scored a popular triumph the likes of which Moscow had not seen since 1958, when Van Cliburn took over the town.

What made the chorale's success doubly surprising was the fact that Conductor Shaw made no compromise with his audience. He not only included Friede auf Erden by Composer Arnold Schoenberg, who is ideologically unacceptable in Russian musical circles, but he also scheduled a great deal of religious music, which is virtually never heard in Russian concert halls. Shaw, 46, was surprised by the Russians' fervent response. Said he: "You couldn't ask for anything more." Soviet Deputy Cultural Minister Alexander Kuznetsov offered a hopeful explanation. "We Russians," said he, "also understand things of the spirit."

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