The New Shostakovich

by Ian MacDonald

Until the publication of "Testimony", the memoirs he dictated to journalist Solomon Volkov, few doubted that Dmitri Shostakovich was a son of the Russian Revolution, whose music celebrated its triumphs, and who devoted his life to the ideals of socialist humanism and internationalism. This biography of Shostakovich repudiates reservations about the precise nature of Volkov's book, to reveal a "new Shostakovich" - a man who had no sympathy with Communism and was forced to build subtle or coded communication into his music to defy the artistic conventions of the Stalinist state. In addition to presenting this new view of the composer, the book also encourages a reappraisal of his music in the light of its new-found meaning and the manner of its creation.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Art, History

351 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Obituary: The Guardian

Wikipedia Entry

Reviews

[Kate Priest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate that it was an important book, and that it had to be written in order to challenge academic hegemony of Shostakovich as a good Soviet composer. However, that didn't make it any less painful to read. Clearly still high off the fall of the Berlin Wall, Macdonald delights in recounting every stupid myth about Stalin and the USSR, judiciously referencing Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago and even dedicating an appendix to Nineteen Eighty-Four . If the academics he was so fervently writing against had been ideologically blinkered by the Cold War, here perhaps the opposite is true - suddenly every composition is a passionate attack on Stalin, and Shostakovich is constantly playing 4D chess with the Party!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very dense and detailed book which needs to be read slowly. It is full of details about the music, the political and social context, the coded messages in the compositions, and the compromises he had to make in order to stay alive and for his extended family and household to avoid persecution. It is often very grim reading. The commentaries on many of the compositions (including the symphonies and some of the chamber music) are extremely detailed and useful to have to hand when listening.

[Peter Miller]

PLINKY-PLONK AIR-RAID!

[Frances Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the social context surrounding Shostakovich's works. Highly recommend.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshingly ambiguous interplay between the political reality of the Soviet Union and the creative and ethical choices of an artist..

[Blaine Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review forthcoming.

[Eleleleleanor · Rating 1 out of 5]

hehehehe what is this buddy did not recieve a message from Shostakovich in the afterlife to write this book (Seriously, look at Macdonald's obiturary!!!!)

[John Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenging, enigmatic but I like it/him. Sums up my feelings about Shostakovich. Now I want to read IM's Revolution in the Head.