Contents:

Customers who bought this item also bought

One person found this helpful. In a carefully researched and organized work, cellist and author Elizabeth Wilson presents a biography of Shostakovich comprising collated reminiscences and value judgments of his contemporaries that form the bulk of pages of main text, along with her own input and documentary evidence where available.

Shostakovich: A Life Remembered

The prevailing political and cultural environment of the Soviet Union at the time looms large in the background. So many names familiar and unfamiliar appear throughout the text, that 30 pages of Biographical Notes come in handy for identification and as reminders of who's who in the world of Shostakovich. The detailed Index will prove useful to the serious reader of such a large, wide-ranging book. The Acknowledgements and the Annotated List of Sources give an idea of the vast amount of study, consultation and interviews carried out by Wilson mostly in Russia, but also Switzerland, Germany, UK and USA, in what must be termed a labor of love.

His parents wanted to name him Jaroslav, but the priest who baptized him insisted on Dmitri. So begins the story of the boy prodigy, who matured into one of the most significant composers of the twentieth century. Testimonies by more than 60 contributors authenticate some of Shostakovich's personal attributes, details of his life, and the way he went about composing music under often taxing circumstances and the shadow of a political system that sought to regulate the arts -- indeed all aspects of life -- to conform to "socialist reality.

Perfect pitch and a phenomenal memory helped to distinguish him among his fellow students at the Petrograd Leningrad Conservatoire. His graduation piece, the First Symphony, brought him quick fame. Already he was demonstrating an independent bent of mind and going his own way in music, to the displeasure of the Soviet authorities who eventually subjected him to harassment and humiliation.

Shostakovich's sharp contradictions of character affected his behavior. He had a sense of humor and high spirits; he loved his vodka, card games -- a "poker fiend" according to one friend -- and football soccer ; yet pianist Mikhail Druskin says, "It was Shostakovich's vocation to realize the concept of tragedy, for that was how he perceived the world. Worse yet, occasionally he appeared to be supporting official policies. In the words of soprano Galina Vishnevskaya wife of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich , "He [Shostakovich] felt we were all participants in the farce.

He made statements in the press and at meetings; he signed 'letters of protest' that, as he himself said, he never read. He didn't worry about what people would say of him, because he knew the time would come when the verbiage would fade away, when only his music would remain.

Customers who bought this item also bought

And his music would speak more vividly than any words. Accounts of the war on "formalism" during Stalin's regime provide real drama. According to doctrinaire officials, notably Andrei Zhdanov infamous for his role in the campaign of terror against the intelligentsia , Soviet realism dictated that music should be tuneful, uplifting, and meaningful to the masses. In their view, abstract or Western-influenced "modern" music was not.

Tragic music was pessimism, not in the spirit of the Nation. The consequences on formalist composers as they called them , prominent among them being Shostakovich and Prokofiev, were grave. They lost their main means of livelihood and many of their works were no longer performed. Rostropovich relates that the time came when Prokofiev did not have money left to buy breakfast. Actually, Shostakovich fell from grace earlier, when his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District was viciously attacked by Pravda as chaos.

After that, he found it prudent to suppress his innovative Fourth Symphony and several other works until after Stalin died. The Fifth Symphony, wildly acclaimed by the public, won official if somewhat grudging acceptance. The war years offered him the opportunity to write the Seventh Symphony, on which he started working during the German siege of Leningrad.

The response to it was universally electric. Luckily for him, the authorities did not suspect that Shostakovich intended the music to signify the ultimate defeat not only of fascism but of all forms of tyranny, by implication including Stalinism. For now, Shostakovich was a hero again. Yet when he wrote the Eighth Symphony, a tragic masterpiece portraying the horror of war, the authorities predictably criticized it; it was not the heroic, victorious music they expected.

Shostakovich had an acerbic comment to depict the system: A good part of the material covers the circumstances of the composition, rehearsals and premieres of major works, where fascinating insights into the ways and genius of the composer emerge. In a few cases Wilson includes a description of the music and some issues of interpretation. Of special interest to me are accounts of some of his splendid string quartets, where Shostakovich was at his most personal. Here and there we get a glimpse that tells us something of his attitude toward music.

.
Shostakovich: A Life Remembered - Elizabeth Wilson - Google Книги?
!
.
Il sacro fuoco della regina (Italian Edition).
.

One of the best concerns a passage in his score for the film King Lear: His last work was the Viola Sonata opus , of which Wilson writes, "The Viola Sonata can be regarded as a fitting requiem for a man who had lived through and chronicled the scourges of a cruel age. He died in hospital on 9 August, The book ends bleakly with an extract from the diary of violinist Mark Lubotsky, describing the burial: They were nailing down the lid of the coffin. The Soviet anthem was played. It was cold and it started to drizzle. A few pages before, she supplies what I think would stand as a more optimistic conclusion to the book: See all 31 reviews.

Most recent customer reviews. Published 8 months ago. Published 1 year ago. Published on July 23, Published on April 19, Published on May 27, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. A Life Remembered - Second Edition.

Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed.

The Noise of Time: A Novel Vintage International. Pages with related products. See and discover other items: There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Then, as the Soviet Union disintegrated and the cold war came to a close, he was repackaged as a dissident martyr oppressed by a tyrannical regime, befitting the geopolitical shifts of the time. A third incarnation may well be upon us, in which Shostakovich emerges as the genius of a composer that he was; his music informed by his time and experiences but transcending them into the universal.

Neither a hack nor a dissident martyr, but a revolutionary composer and a profound humanist with wrinkles and all. Shostakovich, a Life Remembered, offers a Rashomon-like take on the composer and the man. Snippets of reminiscences by friends, colleagues, acquaintances and others flow in a continuous stream of consciousness-like manner to build a composite picture of the man and his times, in all of his and their complexities. Wilson is an accomplished cellist, a trainee of the great Russian cellist Mislav Rostropovich, himself a student of Shostakovich in composition and the dedicatee of Shostakovich's First and Second Cello Concerti.

EJ and the Bully - A Lesson in Respect (Auto-B-Good);
Marlene und ihre Orgien (German Edition)?
Frequently bought together!
Beyond Exile: Day by Day Armageddon?

Shostakovich's music, while not deeply probed or analyzed, is ever present in the background, providing milestones to a brilliant and turbulent life. Deeply satisfying and informative, and recommended for all those interested in the man, his music and times. If you like Shostakovich, then this book is essential. It consists pretty much entirely of memories and account by people who knew Shostakovich, which makes it reliable and a great read. I know have an idea of what Shostakovich was If you like Shostakovich, then this book is essential. I know have an idea of what Shostakovich was like as a person, as a friend, and I love that.

Oct 26, Neal Hines rated it really liked it. I was fascinated by this book, being an inside glimpse into the life of DDS. There are some personal stories that are memorable. Many good interviews, pictures, and stories. Feb 22, Marius rated it it was amazing. This is for sure the best biography of a composer that I have ever read. The author uses interviews, articles and reports with people that knew Shostakovich providing you with an incredibly vivid picture of him.

See a Problem?

Based on letters, diaries, and interviews with and of his contemporaries, Wilson weaves The response to it was universally electric. Neither a hack nor a dissident martyr, but a revolutionary composer and a profound humanist with wrinkles and all. His work was often censured by the Soviet musical establishment, and he fought against state censorship to have his work performed. Melodies were definitely not Shostakovich's forte and I don't think that bothered him a bit. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web.

His life, his personality, his compositions, the controversy around his ideological stand but also his time in general gets to life through these reports. This book is an incredible collection of sources and knowledge about Shostakovich, taking you so close to him that at the end it feel This is for sure the best biography of a composer that I have ever read. This book is an incredible collection of sources and knowledge about Shostakovich, taking you so close to him that at the end it feels like saying goodbye to a life-long friend.

Jul 17, John rated it it was amazing. This book is constructed in such a unique style through its incredible wealth of anecdotes, personal recollections within a chronological framework of his life and works. Shostakovich was such a famously enigmatic composer yet i find whenever i dip into this book i come away with a more personal sense of the man with all his complexities; his friendships,loyalties, strengths, and inner torments.

Its a really invaluable reference. A somewhat distant account of the composer's life and work, constantly interrupted with well deserved! In so depressing a milieu Shostakovich's music inevitably conveys sombre and bitter tones, yet occasionally sparkles with brilliant jollity and wit. Wilson's account does much to explain these seeming anomalies. Jan 04, Elizabeth Hopkins rated it it was amazing.

An incredibly insightful compilation of reminiscences that tells the story of Dmitri Shostakovich's life, this book is an enlightening nonfiction page-turner. Chris rated it really liked it Jan 27, John rated it liked it Feb 11, Michael rated it really liked it Jan 18, Jeremy Krifka rated it it was amazing Jan 16, James rated it it was amazing Nov 21, Nadia Saindon rated it it was amazing Mar 09, Olav Olsen rated it really liked it Aug 24, Marijke rated it it was amazing May 23, Deb rated it it was amazing Sep 07, Miriam rated it really liked it Apr 12, Vivek rated it it was amazing Oct 16, Bethan rated it it was amazing Mar 02, Kristina rated it it was amazing Oct 17, Mikkel rated it liked it Apr 10, Daryl rated it liked it Jul 25, Coucoureux Jean-Noel rated it really liked it Jul 01, George rated it really liked it Sep 09, Garnicholson rated it really liked it Sep 16,