Solomon Volkov

“O título [da peça Vladimir Maiakóvski, do autor de mesmo nome] escondia uma revelação brilhantemente simples, a de que o poeta não é o autor, mas o objeto da poesia lírica, dirigindo-se ao mundo na primeira pessoa. O título designava não o autor, mas o conteúdo.
Boris Pasternak”
― Solomon Volkov, St. Petersburg: A Cultural History

“Young Shostakovich-Mitya-was nine, relatively old, when he began
piano lessons. His first instructor was his mother, who, when she saw his rapid progress, took him to a piano teacher. The following conversation was a favorite family story:
"I've brought you a marvelous pupil!"
"All mothers have marvelous children...."
Within two years he played all the preludes and fugues in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. It was clear that he was exceptionally gifted.”
― Solomon Volkov, Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich