Biographies, including proclaimed autobiography, and biography of related personalities
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Testimony ("as related by Solomon Volkov").
Although some people claim that the book is a fraud,
I still enjoyed reading it very much.
In fact,
I enjoy Solomon Volkov's other books too.
(See below, St. Petersburg, A Culture History.)
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Shostakovich: A Life Remembered by Elizabeth Wilson.
I love the book.
So much vivid descriptions by many people who know Shostakovich personally.
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Shostakovich and His World edited by Laurel E. Fay.
An edited book consisting of two parts.
I found Part I Documents particularly interesting to read.
Part II are Essays by different contributors,
some I like while others I don't care much for.
Must read for Shostakovich aficionados.
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The New Shostakovich by Ian McDanold.
I don't like it. Too much encryption/decryption of alleged hidden messages for
my taste.
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Shostakovich: A Life by Laurel E. Fay.
A book that attempts to balance different views,
therefore not as much new material after reading the above books.
However, still interesting reading for Shostakovich aficionados.
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Shostakovich and Stalin:
the Extraordinary Relationship between the Great Composer
and the Brutal Dictator by Solomon Volkov.
Well,
the title (subtitle) said it all.
Interesting reading, but I didn't find much things new in this new (2004) book.
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Pages from the Life of Shostakovich by Dmitri and Ludmilla Sollertinsky.
Well, I made the mistake of believing the title and the author names
(son and daughter-in-law of "the Sollertinsky"),
and expected to find a lot of personal/family perspective of the great composer.
Little bits of material included from the family archive,
although prominently mentioned on the book jacket!
Instead, we have a "standard" or "official" USSR biography of DDS,
written in 1979 (I should have paid more attention to that date!).
I largely skipped various commentaries about DDS's music after suffering
through reading the first few.
The name Stalin was mentioned only once, as in a Stalin prize,
but not anywhere else!
On the positive side,
I enjoyed the descriptions of the topic of DDS and soccer scattered all
over the book.
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The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers. Shostakovich
by Eric Roseberry.
(A gift signed to my daughter Christine by her piano teacher,
Ms. Marina Tverye.)
As the title implied,
there are a lot of illustrations,
photographs of the composer, of the manuscripts,
of the composer's friends, relatives, and enemies,
of the historical background, etc.
Very enjoyable reading indeed.
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Shostakovich: The Man and His Music
edited by Christopher Norris.
Well, it is not really a book, but rather a collection of essays
by different people.
Many of them read like the notes that comes with your CD box sets.
Good variety of views
(I won't say diversity because they all basically agree with each other),
but lack of unity or the fragmented nature make it less than a enjoyable
book for reading, especially, if you have read some of the above mentioned
books.
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Galina:
I enjoyed the part about Shostakovich in this biography of
Galina Vishnevskaya.
Of course,
you also learn more about her husband,
Mstislav Rostropovich,
as well as their relation to Shostakovich
(and Britten too).
Musical/Cultural Histories/Studies
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Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia by Boris Schwartz.
Although somewhat biased, especially the middle and later part of
20th century (closer to when the book was written),
I enjoyed reading this book a lot.
It is especially helpful to me to put Shostakovich's life and career
in the perspective of social and musical life around him.
I was searching for this book for a long time because it was (and is)
out of print, and couldn't believe my luck when I found it in the
used book section when our local Taylor's Books was having their
store-closing sale.
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St. Petersburg: A Culture History by Solomon Volkov.
I learned about this book from the Internet newsgroup
"alt.fan.shostakovich", and immediately went to our local
Borders bookstore, and luckily found and grabbed one copy.
I enjoyed reading it a lot, because it contains not only
historical happenings around Shostakovich's major works,
but also many things about my favorite novelist Dostoyevsky,
and many things dear to my heart.
As my daughter's piano teacher, Ms. Marina Tverye, pointed
out, I could really benefit from learning Russian.
But, so many things to do, so little time....
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Defining Russia Musically by Richard Tarushkin.
I first saw it in our local Borders bookstore,
and luckily received it as a Xmas'01 gift from my wife Sharon.
Well, it's not quite what I expected from the title:
quite some pages devoted to Shostakovich,
although not as much as to Tchaikovsky or Stravinsky,
and a collection of loosely related essays.
I totally missed the point/greatness of Scriabin the author was
trying to driving home, -- maybe I simply have different taste.
Personally, I don't like the writing as much either.
Interesting web links about Shostakovich(not my own)
The web is fast becoming an important alternative to published media
for readings as well as recordings.
Here is a list of sites/pages that I found interesting:
Prepared by Jeff Tian
(tian@engr.smu.edu).
Created in 1997(?). Last update: May 17, 2008.
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