ABSTRACT
As World War II ended the temporary alliance between the superpowers, a new bipolar world emerged from the rubble, characterised by a clash of cultures and ideologies. Two conflicting ideologies – the Soviet communist and American capitalist systems – struggled openly for supremacy and dominance, two competing cultures were also clashing more quietly on a parallel track. It is the conflict of these cultures which gave rise to an alternative method of fighting the Cold War – a method which used weapons far more nuanced and sophisticated than the blunt, high-profile tools of nuclear intimidation such as the hydrogen bomb, with its all-or-nothing destructive potential. One of these weapons was pianist Sviatoslav Richter who, as a Soviet 'cultural Sputnik', was launched through the Iron Curtain as a means to enhance the positive picture of the Soviet Union in the hearts and minds of foreign audiences.
