Nuncle Music

Consisting of monologues from beyond the grave by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, this vivid psycho-drama explores the struggles of the artist under Soviet rule and seamlessly blends hindsight, guilt, and tricks of memory. Though the struggles of Soviet life--the terror, the deprivation, the disappeared--haunt each piece, a Shostakovian vitality, acerbic wit, and mischief are also present: Hamlet farts through a flute, Stalin plays the triangle, a sparrow defecates on a musical score, and the composer brags he can light a campfire with one match in the middle of a gale.