Shostakovich: A Life

How to understand the life of Shostakovich is a challenge. Fay’s book presents all the aspects of the composer’s life in a readable and engaging way. Shostakovich’s music, his personal relationships and his life in the Soviet Union are all clearly laid out. The challenge is not in the writing – that is excellent. It is understanding many of Shostakovich’s actions.We in the West today really have no concept of what it was like to live under an authoritarian, paranoid dictator whose every whim could lead to the life or death of thousands (or millions) of people in his own society, including our friends and neighbors. We do know a great deal about Hitler and his atrocities but much of what Stalin did is beneath our current public radar. Never a man with an outgoing or strong personality, Shostakovich survived some of the worst purges in human history. Once this book gets past his early life, it is as gripping as any novel. Fay presents both how Shostakovich made it through Stalinist Russia and how some of his post-Stalinist actions may or may not be justified. The book is a lucid piece of writing that gives the background and information and lets the reader make judgments. It is the best a biographer can do for this brilliant, complex but troubled composer.Where the book really shines is in its presentation of Shostakovich’s music. Fay spells out for the reader when and in what situation all fifteen symphonies and all the string quartets were written along with many of the works perhaps less familiar to current readers. The book does not present a detailed analysis of any of the music but gives the overall conception of the works in one or more pages as well as the music’s reception and performance history (or lack of performance due to political pressure). I had been familiar with Shostakovich’s music before reading this biography but the book fleshed out for me many details and provided insights I never realized before. Listening again to Shostakovich’s works after reading about them in the book was a much richer experience than I had listening to them before reading Fay’s biography.For those interested in Shostakovich’s music, this book is superb in explaining the background and settings of the compositions and will shed new light when listening to his music. As far as the controversies still surrounding Shostakovich’s political life, Fay does all any good biographer can do. She lays out the facts about a society so very different from what most readers take for granted that it makes the reader think carefully about the decisions Shostakovich made. An excellent biography.

A solid biography of Shostakovich, thoroughly researched. Fay doesn't get involved in the debate about whether Shostakovich was pro or anti-Soviet--she soberly reports the many compromising and craven things he did in submitting to Soviet power as well as his quiet acts of resistance. Among other things this is a tale of survival. Unfortunately there is next to no discussion of the music itself, beyond the circumstances under which he composed it and what its reception was amidst the oppressive, stifling politics of Soviet music. But I nevertheless found this an absorbing, highly informative biography and it seems to be the best thing out there. It is certainly to be preferred over Volkov's forgery, "Testament," which Fay did more than anyone else to expose for what it is.

Fay does a wonderful job here presenting Shostakovich's life and career the way they really were; not the way some of us would have wanted to happen. Reality over fantasy. Frankly and realistically speaking, Shostakovich was never a dissident. He had countless opportunities to escape the Soviet regime. Not only he never went to jail for his political views, but he never even publicly made any comments or remarks of a political nature. By contrary, he was content (if probably not very happy...) playing the Soviet era political games and furthermore, even occupying high rank positions in the Communist Party. So much of a dissident life..... What Fay does here is accurately portraying Shostakovich the way he publicly behaved and to present his actions the way they really happen. After all, we are all judged by our Actions, and not only by simple and cheap words.Having said that, it does not mean that I do not like Shostakovich: by contrary, I admire and respect him enormously as an artist/composer (I would like to stress here that he is after all my favorite composer), but I have little respect for him as a human being. Some would say here that is impossible to judge one without the other: I totally disagree since I do not have a problem clearly differentiating between the two. I have already mentioned that Shostakovich (despite his faults) is my favorite composer. The other two, in this order are George Enescu and Richard Strauss (all 20th Century `human' or `mortal' composers - Bach and Beethoven being the Gods here!). Not only I admire Enescu very much as a musician (I can only hope here that more people will (re)discover his genius), but I also respect him as a human being. Little is known, but he chose self-exile in Paris when the Communists supported by the Russian Red Army took control of Romania (as well as much of Eastern Europe), instead of having to deal with such a regime. He left behind a very comfortable life and died in almost total poverty in Paris eight years later, happy however knowing that he never compromised his principles. Again, we are talking actions here, and not just simple words.....On the other hand, Richard Strauss (my third favorite composer), and one of the greatest musical geniuses, was not such a great human being after all. It is all fact and well documented that he was a puppet of the Nazi regime and for years he was their Culture Minister and only became a `dissident' when Hitler got bored with him and his antics. It is only when Strauss fell out of grace being of no further use to the regime that he decided to become a `dissident'. Same can be probably said (true, to a much lesser degree) about another great composer of the 20the Century, Jean Sibelius, who gladly accepted all the honors and titles that the Nazis bestowed upon him. It is after all so much more difficult to take a stand, and let your actions speak for yourself....In conclusion, this is an excellent book presenting things the way they really happened: again, we might not always like the reality (it can be sometimes painful), but nobody can deny its veracity.P.S. If you chose to call Shostakovich a dissident, then what would you call Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? Finally, dissident or no dissident, we all agree that Shostakovich was one of the most extraordinary composers of the 20the Century. Let us just enjoy his beautiful music for what it is. It does not need any subversive messages and imaginary meanings to make it more beautiful than it is.

Aún no he terminado de leer la "biografía" de la que Laurel Fay es autora, y no sé si llegaré a terminarla. Más que una biografía, parece un catálogo más o menos cronológico de todo lo que hizo DSCH en su vida y que pueda asegurarse que está documentado y no es información de segunda o tercera mano. En eso representa un ejemplo más de la tendencia norteamericana de escribir biografías con un copioso compendio de información muchas veces inútil, pero con una falta notoria de análisis crítico o juicio sintético acerca de la persona en cuestión. La honestidad de la investigación Laurel Fay está fuera de duda, pero el libro resultante me parece torpe y ayuda poco a entender la figura del compositor.And since it's in English - it seems to me to be another turgid biography of the North American school, with not a properly authenticated detail left out, whether relevant or not, and little, very little in the way of insight into the person in question. Dull and boring, but at least it's an honest biography and not a dishonest biography disguised as a novel such as Julian Barnes brought out this year.

Excellent recording - the music is so beautiful. For those who love this composer's music this is a very good addition to your music library.

Laurel Fay just decided to slate Shostakovich, downgrading him in all its life aspects. I regretted my choice, and I'll try to sell it asap.

I approached this book with some trepidation after one of the previous reviewers described it as academic. Over the years, working in a music library as I do, I've read plenty of academic books written by musicologists, and yes, they can be dry and hard going, this book however is definitely not that. I found it to be accessible and easy to read, the use of language is clear with an excellent use of appendices which ensures that the main body of the text isn't cluttered up with all the detailed notes. It contains a really good list of D.S's works, a list of the many abbreviations used, a glossary of the important people in his life, a select bibliography, and crucially, a really detailed index (ideal for use when listening to a particular piece of his music).Another great thing about this book is that it is objective about Shostakovich, there is no hyperbole, no loaded value judgement and no political angle.Its almost perfect, my only minor quibble is that the maps and pictures don't seem to have transfered from its its initial print run very well, with some loss of quality, however, the main reason to buy this is for the text, which is excellent!

Come on, people: it's ridiculous to compare a serious biography such as this to the fantasies of Volkov, MacDonald and co., according to how "interesting" they are. This is the definitive English-language account of the life of Shostakovich; if dramatic accounts of the quiet anti-totalitarian schemer are more to your taste, then there is no shortage of such books. In reality, the man was far more complicated, far less heroic and therefore, I would rather argue, far more interesting, than his supposed defenders portray him. One hopes that in time the Volkov book will come universally to be seen as Schindler's writings on Beethoven now are, but for the moment this book is an essential basis for any fact-based interest in Shostakovich. Highly recommended for anybody who enjoys his music.