Shostakovich: A Life

by Laurel E. Fay

Release Date: November, 1999

Edition: Hardcover

Price:

More Info

Lies, all Lies

The impression created in this poorly written book bares no actual resembelence to the great Shostakovich. It sheds no light on his herioc struggle against Soviet rule. If you want to learn about this artist, listen to the 5th and 10th symphonies. If you must read something, this is not the book to read. This "work" is nothing more than Ms. Fay's desperate attempt to salvage her widely discredited opinions,i.e. falsely painting the composer as a commie stooge.

a new "standard reference," but not the definitive work

Having recently discovered Shostakovich, I quickly ran into the controversy regarding the official versus private accounts. Fay includes the official denunciations by the Stalinist regime, most infamously in 1936 and 1948, and so clearly moves beyond the "loyal son of the Communist Party" propaganda line, but rejects as unreliable much of the recent testimony of those who knew Shostakovich, including the memoirs called "Testimony." Personally, I am convinced by the mass of testimony that Shostakovich was indeed a passionate dissident, and that his music expressed that "to those with ears to hear," in the words he often used.

Take this volume for what it's worth. For now it is the standard biography, and has no competition in that regard. It tells the whole story, but leaves us feeling that we are missing the true inner story. For that story, other sources are clearly invaluable -- the book of reminiscences compiled by Elizabeth Wilson ("Shostakovich: A Life Remembered"), Solomon Volkov's "Testimony," and "Shostakovich Reconsidered," which contains much valuable commentary beyond simply defending Volkov's book.

I am listening to Rostropovich conducting Shostakovich's Fifth as I write, and nothing seems more absurd than the notion that the composer was a party apparatchik. Shostakovich's music expresses deep sorrow and suffering, and his defiant humanism. The music speaks for itself, but I am confident that Fay's biography will be surpassed by accounts that more fully convey the spiritual significance of Shostakovich's life and music.