Testimony – The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich by Solomon Volkov
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Overview: These are the memoirs of the great Russian classical music composer Dimitri Shostakovich, as translated from the Russian by Antonina W. Bouis. They have been edited by Solomon Volkov. (Problematic – but important nonetheless)
Those who read ‘Testimony’ for the first time will perhaps judge it a fascinating tome on Soviet cultural and social history. The book opens with a preface by Volkov that explains how the working relationship developed between Shostakovich and himself. Volkov’s lengthy introduction follows, placing Shostakovich’s career in striking relief to the conditions under which he lived. Trailing the foreword are 273 pages of Shostakovich’s ‘recollections and opinions,’ said to have been compiled in shorthand and later edited by Volkov. The memoirs are in loose chronological order: Shostakovich first touches upon his ‘uninteresting’ childhood (though interesting from an outsider’s point of view), his conservatory studies, and personalities he met at a young age. According to Volkov, Shostakovich found it easier to discuss his life in relation to others – a ‘mirrored style.’ Of the many people he knew in his earlier years, three names stand out: Alexander Glazunov, a well-known composer and head of the St. Petersburg/Petrograd Conservatory; Vsevolod Meyerhold, the famed dramatist whose company employed Shostakovich in his early twenties; and friend Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union, who was executed on treason charges drummed up by Stalin.
Genre: Biographies/Memoirs
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