... living under this regime struggled against the strictures of state control, as music for many artists represented an outlet for self-expression and escapism in a climate drenched with fear and brutality. Therefore, to do adopt a musical language of falsity, which forced composers to assert the national identity of Russia and her sister states, stripped most composers of their freedom of expression and stifled their creative individuality. The amorphous nature of music renders the notion of enforcement a difficult task. Can a language, which asserts it's-self subjectively and speaks no narrative be used to represent the cultural identity of ones country? Music accrues its meaning and definition through the interpretation of the individual listener and this translation will thus vary from person to person. Therefore, it can never be employed to represent the ideals of everybody. Composers such as Shostakovich and Prokoviev were all too familiar with this ...

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