The New Shostakovich

Who was Dmitri Shostakovich? The USSR's official figurehead composer and son of the revolution that brought the Soviet state into being, or a secret dissident whose contempt for the totalitarian regime was scathing? Perhaps both? Since the posthumous publication in 1979 of alleged memoirs by Shostakovich, the controversy about the composer and his music has escalated into the most rancorous debate the world of classical music has ever known. Ian MacDonald's The New Shostakovich presents the case for the dissident view, arguing passionately that the meaning of the composer's music cannot be fully appreciated without a knowledge of the terrible times he and his fellow artists lived through under Soviet Communism. A widely read and critically acclaimed book in the 1990s, this new edition has been comprehensively revised, extensively corrected, and updated with much new material. Whichever side of the debate readers support, The New Shostakovich presents them with a viewpoint which cannot be ignored. What Were Dmitri Shostakovich's Views About His Homeland? Until 1979 The Soviet Union's Official Composer Was Considered A Staunch Supporter Of Joseph Stalin And His Successors. This Assumption Was Then Challenged With The Publication Of Testimony, Ostensibly The Composer's Memoirs As Told To Solomon Volkov, In Which Shostakovich Emerged As A Dissident. Serious Reservations Persist To This Day About The Integrity And Validity Of Testimony, But Volkov Did Reveal A New Shostakovich. Now, In The First Important Biographical Work On Shostakovich To Take Testimony Into Account, Ian Macdonald Dispels Some Of The Mystery Surrounding The Composer And His Music. Declaring That Volkov Painted A Realistic Picture Of Dmitri Shostakovich: It Just Isn't A Genuine One, Macdonald Describes The Ways In Which The Soviet Government Used Shostakovich And Other Artists For Propaganda Purposes And Examines The Only Authentic Record Of Shostakovich's Personal And Political Beliefs That The Composer Left Behind: His Music. Macdonald Argues That Attempts To Grasp The Compositions Of Shostakovich As Pure Music Are Doomed To Failure Because The Composer's Art Can Be Understood Only Within The Political-cultural Framework Of His Time. Soviet Institutions Controlled Artistic Endeavors During Shostakovich's Life, And He Fought Back Through His Compositions. Examining Shostakovich's Music, Macdonald Finds A Sarcastic Subterranean Mind Adopting Ironic Strategies Designed To Evade Censorship. By Looking Anew At The Life Of Dmitri Shostakovich--and The Nature Of Life In The Pre-gorbachev Era--ian Macdonald Provides Fresh Insights Into Some Of The Greatest Music Of This Century [publisher Description] Prelude. Truth -- Innocence 1906-1925 -- Experience 1926-1931 -- Uncertainty 1932-1934 -- Terror 1935-1938 -- Togetherness 1938-1946 -- Isolation 1946-1953 -- Assertion 1953-1975 -- Postlude. Immortality. Ian Macdonald. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 316-326) And Indexes.