Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich (Limelight)

I bought this used from an Amazon vendor for the Shostakovich year about the same time I bought the new set of symphonies by Kitaenko and the Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra. I didn't expect I would listen to all the symphonies before finishing the book, which I expected -- from everything I'd read about it for 20 years -- to be a riveting engagement.Sad to say, it was not. The book is a set of professional memoirs from the author at the end of his life, presented through the voice of Solomon Volkov, who knew the composer as editor of a Soviet musical publication.Since the book covers Shostakovich at the end of his life -- he told Volkov not to publish it while he was alive -- it is a tome of his bitterness built up over the decades. Shostakovich goes on for pages about other musicians, people lost to the Stalin purges, his teacher Glazunov and others in the Soviet artistic intelligentsia. The book covers virtually no personal ground for the composer; there is nothing in it about his children other than a few photos.Many of the famous quotes attributed to Shostakovich, including "my symphonies are tombstones" are included in the text. You have to get about halfway through the thing before it goes into any detail in the important matters about Shostakovich's music, its hidden messages only legible to those who knew him at the time, and what he had to do to publish these works during the era of Stalin's Soviet realism.Shostakovich's famous wit and cynicism appear much earlier in these pages. His distaste for Toscanini is recited in the first 25 pages. He's onto a split view of Stravinsky 5 or 6 pages later. Not much later, he says Prokofiev had the soul of a goose and a chip on his shoulder. A few pages later he called Russian conductor Alexander Gauk "a rare specimen of stupidity." He has even harsher words for other composers and artists.I was a little disappointed by all this, to be honest. I expected more of a polemic on Soviet society and less of a laissez faire view of the composer's artistic life and friends. The book spends more time on Shostakovich's trip to New York in 1947 and his disdain of American reporters than it does on any aspect of his childhood, marriages, or life with his children. And that wasn't much, either.Still, this is an important perspective on the 20th century's most important and accomplished symphonist, whose music has been celebrated this year. Through its discussion of Shostakovich fulfilling the Russina "yurodivy" role, we intrinsically understand the finale of his great 5th Symphony is the joy of forced labor. We have an idea the noisy and cacaphonous sections of his 4th Symphony are his fear of the secret police taking him away. We know his 8th symphony is more about ther rigors of totalitarianism than Russia's Great Patriotic War.For this, the book is an enduring view into the mind and artistic life of the composer that probably best illuminated life in Soviet Russia. There is no mirror of the composer that was considered a faithful communist and wunderkind after composing the wonderful and joyous 1st Symphony. That person does not exist in this book and his memoirs are not included.

Indispensable, if incomplete. I have loved this book ever since it appeared in 1979. I left my old copy in a storage locker and bought it again. I wish the publisher had made an electronic version, but publishers rarely do what the rest of us want. If you love the music, then here is the same voice in conversation. Volkov's mediation is a tour de force. Back when the book first appeared, the Soviets were alive and kicking; they had fervent support in the West, and a huge attack was launched on this book, which was a dagger in the heart of the USSR's self-image. The old Soviet fans have long since moved on to different causes, while the issues raised in this book are eternal. The book is one-sided, but that's how it is with memoirs. In combination with a good scholarly source -- like Laurel Fay's book -- or another vantage point like Galina Vishnevskaya's autobiographical masterwork, Testimony will tell you all you need to know about the heart-rending history of Soviet Russia.

Firstly, the book came in perfect condition, as if it was completely new. Secondly, about the book: I recommend anybody who is interested in Shostakovich read this. It is basically an autobiography.

This book provides wonderful (and terrifying) looks at the music community during the Stalinist period in the Soviet Union. While telling warm anecdotes about composers such as Glazanov, Shostakovich also gives insights into the fears and uncertainties of composing music true to his artistic vision while still trying to survive Stalin's purges. It is told in a a straight forward manner without self-pity. I recommend it to readers who enjoy biographies of composers and/or who enjoy 20th century history.

An historic document in every sense. The clear-eyed sorrow and sardonic wit identify their owner unmistakably. One wishes he had had the time to extend and explore what is sometimes only hinted at. The clarifying footnotes are a distinct help to the Western reader. And the text's opinions and reports of Western attitudes, remind us how little we were allowed to know in those shadowed times.

One can only fully appreciate Shostakovich's music, especially his symphonies, by understanding what his life was like within Soviet Russia at the time. His delicate relationship with Stalin and Soviet authorities, the constant threat of arrest and death for himself and his family, the fate of many of his friends. All of these realities are expressed in his music. This book is a chilling yet fascinating read.

I often wonder if it is the dire condition that made Shostakovitch write such moving and effective music. To say that life under Stalin was not easy is a gross understatement. Shostakovitch was thought to be not protesting the situation sufficiently. Yet I am grateful that he trod the line carefully and survived to write his music as testimony for the world and future generations.

This is a tremendous book. I recommend it to anyone, but especially to musicians, who will appreciate the genius of Shostakovich even more when they read this first hand account about what a nightmare it was to be an artist in Stalinist Russia.

The item was marked as "Good" but when I recieved it I found it was just like a new book! I like the book and I think Testimony should definitely be true. If you listen to Shostakovich's music again after you read the book, you will find out what Shostakovich wanted express could perfectly match what is stated in the book. Yes Shostakovich hated totalitarain but still he wanted to survive. I recommend a similar book called "IN SEARCH MY HOMELAND" by a Chinese writer Er-tai Gao (his memory). He was critisized of having produced many works praising the Communist Party in the past. However that's just because he isn't a martyr and he just wanted to survive at that crazy time. If you read the two book together you will find Testimony should be the real memory of Shostakovich.

この著作の初版が出てから２５周年を記念して再版された本です。最近ソヴィエト時代の音楽を意欲的に演奏しているアシュケナジーの序文が着いています。著者のvolkovの作品はこれまで何冊も読んできましたけど、どうもこの作品だけは、なんとなく抵抗があり、これまで読むことはなかった作品でした。一読した読後感としては、あまり整理がなされていない作品だという点です。作品は、ショスタコがいろいろな機会に著者に脈絡なく語った話がベースとなっています。volkovのその後の作品（st petersburg等は）はこの思い出を彼なりに時間の経過とともにより大きな命題の下に整理し直したものということができると思います。印象的な部分は、アシュケナジーも述べているように、社会主義国の実情を理解しない西側のメディアの無神経さと西側の知識人たちの無知です。ショスタコ自身とすれ違うさまざまなソヴィエトの有名人たちへの、ショスタコのコメントは辛らつです。