Product Description

"Shostakovich: A Life Remembered" is a unique study of the great composer Dmitri Shostakovich, based on reminiscences from his contemporaries: family members, friends, fellow musicians and other prominent figures of the time. Elizabeth Wilson covers the composer's life from his early successes to his struggles under the Stalinist regime, and his international recognition as one of the leading composers of the twentieth century. This revised edition, produced to coincide with the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, draws on many new writings on the composer. This provides both a more detailed and focused image of Shostakovich's life, and a wider view of his cultural background. A particular aspect of Shostakovich which is revealed in this new edition is his sardonic and witty sense of humour, displayed in many of his letters to close friends.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186059 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Review
"'The one essential source to which all future biographers will have to turn.' Calum MacDonald, Tempo"

Customer Reviews

a FINE REFERENCE BOOK by one of Shostakovich's students
I bought this book in 2000 + it remains a thoroughly absorbing refence work for anyone interested in the turbulent troubled life and times of Dmitri shostakovich and how it affected + influenced his great works.

The massive shadow cast by Stalin during the mid-20th century in Russia seems almost unimaginable to western readers at the start of the 21st Century... but anyone with an interest in Shostakovich's hauntng + emotionally complex symphonies or string quartets will find much in Elizabeth Wilson's book to widen their appreciation of the great man's music.

Born and living in Leningrad until1979, it was an enjoyable trip back in time for me.
Recuperating after a major surgery, I stayed last week in a beach cottage in Florida. I was afraid it'd be boring and it probably would if not for this book. The form of the book - an oral biography (through detailed interviews by the author of collegues, relatives and others who knew Shostakovich) makes for a very alive and fresh reading. Quite a superficial music lover, I had nevertheless enjoyed reading all the details, because they are immersed in the feel, motions and atmospherics of the time. One tiny blemish is that the author, fluent in Russian, translates literally all the idiomatic colloquialisms that are pretty common in the Russian speach. Most of the time it's just funny, like "feverishly loving you D.Shostakovich". Only in one instance it is downright wrong. It is when she translates a Russian word seni which means a "foyer" as "hay" i.e. seno. But again, it is so tiny and the non-Russian reader wouldn't notice anyway.