Customer Reviews

Story of a Friendship: The Letters of Dmitry Shostakovich to Isaak Glikman, 1941-1975

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Shostakovich's letters to Glikman show the personal side of the composer -- a man of humor, wit, intelligence, and an overall powerful mind. While keeping in mind his highly negative attitudes towards the Soviet government, the reader sees clearly Shostakovich's use of codified language, forms of reverse psychology, irony, parody, all of which he uses to keep the offical government censors off his (and Glikman's) back, and yet to deliver his true message, idea, opinion in a singularly and brilliantly effective way.
My only reservation about the book is the one-sidedness of it. Glikman's letters, or simply more extensive commentary (although it is remarkably thorough, and an outstanding job for an old man 30 years later!). Shostakovich destroyed all the letters he received, so remedying this problem, alas, is virtually impossible.
Highly, highly recommended despite this.

Story of a Friendship: The Letters of Dmitri Shostakovich to Isaak Glickman is a remarkable collection of Shostakovich's letters. Shostakovich was a close friend of Glickman beginning in the early 1930's and these letters constitute a kind of autobiography. The letters that Glickman wrote in response were not preserved it being Shostakovich's philosophy that letters were momentary and not to be saved. Fortunately for us, Isaak Glickman did not follow Shostakovich's example.

The letters up to late 1941 have been lost and Isaak Glickman wrote a synopsis of events up to the time of the first letter. The book is divided into time periods: the war years (1941 - 45), the Zhandov Decree (1946 - 53, the Thaw (1954 - 59), the public and private (1960 - 66), the composer's failing health (1967 - 69) and his final yeas (1970 - 75). The final letter is dated to August 23, 1974 and the final year of Dmitri Shostakovich's life is told through Isaak Glickman's diary entries.

The book is loaded with footnotes. I kept a marker at the current footnote pages so I could turn to them easily. I did flip back and forth often. The footnotes are usually very informative, sometimes adding a lot of information to the letter. The letter's themselves are more revealing about Shostakovich's personality rather than his feelings about his music, but there are some fascinating letters that talk about the Symphony No. 13 and 14. I have read several books about Shostakovich and this one added a new dimension, particularly about his illnesses that began in the 1960's. Many of his letters were written from hospitals or convalescent homes where he composed some of his most powerful music, such as the String Quartets 11 and 13, the Violin Sonata and the Symphony No 14. During this time the composer was being treated for the disorders he had with his right hand and leg, a heart attack and separate stays when he broken each of his legs. At one point he joked that he only had to break his left arm to be 100%.

The book has two sets of plates that include several photographs that I had not seen before. This is an excellent volume particularly if you have read other books about Shostakovich such as Elizabeth Wilson's "Shostakovich: A Life Remembered." The perspective that these letter bring to our knowledge of Shostakovich in invaluable.

Limited as it is in scope and ambition, the book brings out the eminently humman side of Shostakovich through correspondence dealing essentially with matter-of-fact everyday matters. Glikman seems to have worshipped Shostakovich, who evidently valued his friendship highly.
A pleasing volume with interesting photos and ample notes to fill in the background, it will be appreciated in particular by aficionados.