Customer Reviews

Shostakovich Reconsidered

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Shostakovich Reconsidered is a timely publication that puts into perspective all the issues revolving around the defamation of the composer's memoirs (Testimony, edited by Solomon Volkov).

Whichever side of the fence one is on, the book comprehensively gathers all the witnesses and testimonies so that one can understand the entire issue surrounding the controversy. At the same time, the second half of the book presents various interesting essays on the composer and his music and other fascinating materials such as the symposium by Maxim SHostakovich.

On the whole, it is very illuminating. On the subject of Testimony, it could very well be the last word on the subject.

I bought this book a while back, and kept it for almost a year before I read it. I wanted to give the book my highest level of attention. Well, it was worth the wait. Shostakovich Reconsidered has a wealth of information for any serious (and not-so-serious) Shostakovich scholar. My only criticism of the book is that Ian MacDonald's (The New Shostakovich) name should be more associated with this book than it is. He has written a sizeable array of articles in this book, and each one has proven to be as interesting as The New Shostakovich. I found the "courtroom" approach to supporting or refuting the memoirs of Shostakovich (Testimony) a little tedious after awhile, but I enjoyed the information nevertheless. I also found that Laurel Fay's book (Shostakovich: A Life) suffers from "selective scholarship" in the eyes of the authors. This should be interesting, as I dive into that book next. . .

I bought this book a while back, and kept it for almost a year before I read it. I wanted to give the book my highest level of attention. Well, it was worth the wait. Shostakovich Reconsidered has a wealth of information for any serious (and not-so-serious) Shostakovich scholar. My only criticism of the book is that Ian MacDonald's (The New Shostakovich) name should be more associated with this book than it is. He has written a sizeable array of articles in this book, and each one has proven to be as interesting as The New Shostakovich. I found the "courtroom" approach to supporting or refuting the memoirs of Shostakovich (Testimony) a little tedious after awhile, but I enjoyed the information nevertheless. I also found that Laurel Fay's book (Shostakovich: A Life) suffers from "selective scholarship" in the eyes of the authors. This should be interesting, as I dive into that book next. . .

A thoroughly researched and well written investigation of the composer-as-dissident. For contemporaries and friends of Shostakovich as well as careful listeners, the composer's dissidence is plainly evident in his music.

One wonders what the counter-revisionist musicologists will make of Shostakovich Reconsidered. Under the weight of Ho's and Feofanov's evidence there is little choice but to remain silent or to torpidly dismiss the book.

According to Terry Teachout in the October, 1999 issue of Commentary, that is precisely what Professor Fay has done in her upcoming biography of Shostakovich.

Certainly (one hopes) not the last word on Shostakovich, but a must buy for all lovers of the great composer.