Customer Reviews

Memories of Shostakovich

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Memories of Shostakovich is an intimate look at the composer by his children; the book gives the reader additional insights into Dmitri Shostakovich that have not been included in other books and some that have. An example of something I knew was that Shostakovich kept a list of people he did not want to speak to on the telephone which Memories expands on since it was the composer's children who answered the phone and consulted the list and had to tell the caller that their father was not at home.

The book was compiled by the Rev, Michael Ardov, a friend of Maxim. The book mainly consists of the interviews of Galina and Maxim but other material is introduced to expand on what the two interviewees have said, such as letters Shostakovich wrote to Issak Glikman and remembrances of Sofgia Khentova, Boris Tishcenko, Boris Khaikin and Kirill Kondrashin, to name a few. Michael Ardov frequents includes his own memories to what Galina and Maxim have said. Nothing startling is revealed in the book but the read gains something of what Shostakovich the parent was like.

The book follows Shostakovich's life chronologically with each short chapter dealing with a new aspect of his life. The first chapter begins with what Galina recalls from the evacuation of Leningrad in 1941 and Maxim follows with his early memories, stealing clay from a sculptor doing a portrait of the father. An amusing scene takes place when Shostakovich asks Maxim for a cigarette because he has run out but Maxim had thought that his father did not know he smoked. There are the usual denials from Maxim until he knows that he has been caught and must reveal the truth. The book includes many family photographs, some that I had not seen before.

I you enjoy Shostakovich's music and have read one of the many books about him, this little volume will supplement the other books nicely but it also stands on its own as beautifully assembled anecdotes about one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.