Shostakovich reconsidered / written and edited by Allan B. Ho and Dmitry Feofanov ; with an overture by Vladimir Ashkenazy.
| Author/creator | Ho, Allan Benedict, 1955- |
| Other author | Feofanov, Dmitry author, editor. |
| Other author | Ashkenazy, Vladimir, 1937- writer of preface. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | [London] : Toccata Press, 1998. |
| Description | 787 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Theme: Shostakovich's Testimony : reply to an unjust criticism / Allan B. Ho and Dmitry Feofanov -- Opening statement -- Cross-examination. 'Friends and family': the official response. Death and rehabilitation -- The KGB connection -- 'Les six soviétiques' -- Tishinka and Tishchenko -- Yakubov and Sabinina -- Irina and Galina -- Maxim Shostakovich : then -- Maxim Shostakovich: now. Fools: holy or regular, or, An essay on the dangers of casting stones in glass houses. Handed on a Soviet platter -- Inscriptions and photographs -- Rothschild's violin -- Biography or memoirs -- Factual discrepancies -- The Seventh Symphony -- The Eighth Quartet, Fifth, Tenth and Eleventh symphonies, and other notes in a bottle -- 'Soviet Russia's most loyal musical son?' -- Other contradictions -- Omissions -- Plagiarism or self-quotation -- Chital (Read). D. Shostakovich -- The original Russian text -- Bravery in the artist -- Testimony of guilt -- Summary -- The case for the defence: corroborating Testimony. Selective scholarship -- The ring of truth -- Rayok -- Closing argument: a rush to judgement -- |
| Contents | Variations on a theme: Variation I. A man has burned-up here / Solomon Volkov interviewed by Galina Drubachevskaya -- Tradition returns: Rostropovich's symbolism / Mstislav Rostropovich interviewed by Solomon Volkov -- Shostakovich symposium / Maxim Shostakovich, Solomon Volkov, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Kenneth Kiesler, moderated and edited by Harlow Robinson -- Six lectures on the Shostakovich symphonies / Maxim Shostakovich, transcribed and edited by John-Michael Albert -- Variation II. Shostakovich / Daniil Zhitomirsky -- Code, quotation and collage: some musical allusions in the works of Dmitry Shostakovich / Lev Lebedinsky -- An inner rebellion: thoughts on the current debate about Shostakovich / Leo Mazel' -- Shostakovich's idoims / Vladimir Zak -- Talking about Shostakovich: three documents / Kirill Kondrashin -- The Gulag and Shostakovich's memorial / Andrey Bitov -- Variation III. His misty youth: the Glivenko letters and life in the '20s -- Universal because specific: arguments for a contextual approach -- Writing about Shostakovich: the post-communist perspective / Ian MacDonald -- Variation IV. The legend of the Eighth Quartet / Ian MacDonald -- The Seventh Symphony: truth and legend / Semyon Bychkov interviewed by Henrietta Cowling -- Dmitry Shostakovich: the composer as Jew / Timothy L. Jackson -- Coda. Naïve anti-revisionism: the academic misrepresentation of Shostakovich / Ian MacDonald. |
| Abstract | Dmitry Shostakovich's memoirs, Testimony, 'related to and edited by Solomon Volkov', have been the subject of fierce debate since their publication in 1979. Was Testimony a forgery, made up by an impudent impostor, or was it the deathbed confession of a bent, but unbroken, man? The authenticity of Testimony first came under attack from the Soviet government and then from commentators whom Vladimir Ashkenazy in his Overture calls Soviet stooges in the West; even now, years after the fall of the communist regime, a coterie of well-placed Western musicologists have regularly raised objections to Testimony, hoping with each attack to undermine the picture of Shostakovich presented in his memoirs that of a man of enormous moral stature, bitterly disillusioned with the Soviet system. This book systematically address all of the accusations levelled at Testimony and Solomon Volkov, Shostakovich's amanuensis, amassing an enormous amount of material about Shostakovich and his position in Soviet society and burying forever the picture of Shostakovich as a willing participant in the communist charade. Their analysis is complemented by a generous number of other essays, many of them by Shostakovich's close friends and acquaintances, and an interview with Solomon Volkov in which he explains how he worked with Shostakovich to help him write Testimony. Other contributors include the composer's son, Maxim, the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, whose verses of protest Shostakovich set in the Thirteenth Symphony. This book concludes with a bravura examination by Ian MacDonald of Shostakovich's political attitudes considered against the contemporary events that shaped them. This book will be a revelation to the half-million readers who have bought Testimony in its twenty-odd translations. This book does more than set the record straight: it establishes beyond any doubt the enormous courage of one of the moral giants of the age. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 725-755) and index. |
| LCCN | 98221223 |
| ISBN | 0907689566 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.S53 H58 1998 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |