Testimony : the memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich

(Limelight). This is the powerful memoirs which an ailing Dmitri Shostakovich dictated to a young Russian musicologist, Solomon Volkov. When it was first published in 1979, it became an international bestseller. This 25th anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Vladimir Ashkenazy, as well as black-and-white photos. " Testimony changed the perception of Shostakovich's life and work dramatically, and influenced innumerable performances of his music." New Grove Dictionary

User reviews

LibraryThing member RobertDay

A controversial book; doubt has been cast on the accuracy of Volkov's reporting. Certainly to me, the voice of Shostakovich that comes over is too jaundiced to be entirely credible; after all, Shostakovich was a child of the Bolshevik Revolution and held the values of those days very dear. Many

Russian Communists did even though they were uneasy with the excesses of Stalin's rule, and Shostakovich was no different. None of this comes over in Volkov's rendition. After all, he was a volunteer fireman during the siege of Leningrad and had to be ordered to leave the city - these were the acts of a patriot, but no sense of this side of Shostakovich comes through.

I suspect Volkov may have been responsible for some very selective editing, taking out of Shostakovich's account anything that was at all complementary of the Soviet system and ideals. So I believe this is only a partial account of Shostakovich's life, filtered through the mind of someone with an agenda of their own.

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LibraryThing member humdog

i like shostakovich's piano music. this book helped me understand his mind. very well written, and full of dark ironies.

LibraryThing member Geedge

Composer, Biography, Memoirs, Soviet History

LibraryThing member libraryhermit

I bought this book in the 1980s, very soon after it was published. So it was not very long after the death of Shostakovich.
My assumption that this would be the only chance that was available to hear his statements about his life needed to be quesitoned. He doesn't seem to be the type of guy who

goes on and on talking about hismelf, writing autobiographies left and right, like some famous people do. But there still must be the occasional piece here and there, in Russian, that could be sought out, if one had the inclination. Certainly in 1980, I couldn't go to Russia and search out libraries, but now in the 2010, it would be easy to find whatever applicable things are available by using the internet.
I heard that this book caused a huge controversy because Solomon Volkov would have no one to check up on him if he doctored or altered Shostakovich's statements made in their interviews.
Some of the stories are very juicy--i.e. on the surface, they seem to be like gossip that you love to hear about people that are interesting to you--but that is a small matter. People usually don't care too much about autobiographies that are boring or mundane.

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