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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Dmitri Shoshtakovich (1906-1975) is recognized as one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, yet few people know that he was also an outstanding concert pianist who maintained a hectic performing schedule. In "Dmitri Shostakovich, Pianist", Sofia Moshevich offers the first detailed examination of Shoshtakovich the pianist within the context of his life and work as a composer. She traces his musical roots, piano studies, repertoire, and concert career through his correspondence with family and friends, and his own and his contemporaries' memoirs, using material never before available in English. This biographical narrative is interwoven with analyses of Shoshtakovich's piano and chamber works, demonstrating how he interpreted his own music. For the first time, Shoshtakovich's own recordings are used as primary sources to discover what made his playing unique, and to dispel commonly held myths about his style of interpretation. His recorded performances are analysed in detail, specifically his tempos, phrasing, dynamics, pedal, and tonal production.Some unpublished variants of musical texts are included, and examples of his interpretations are provided and compared to various editions of his published scores. ... Read more

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This softbound edition was imported from DSCH of Moscow. The longer and more involved preludes and fugues of Opus 87 were composed in 1950-51. This publication offers these modern classics at a more affordable price than previously available in other editions. ... Read more

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This third edition adds greatly to the information contained therein and brings it up to date. For each numbered work and all the known unnumbered compositions, Hulme provides a short description of the piece, and lists date of composition, dedicatee, forces the work employs, location of the autograph score, duration, arrangements of the work, premiere(s), an extensive list of recordings, and reference to bibliography items where the piece is discussed in any detail. The entries are presented in order of opus number, with unnumbered compositions inserted appropriately within this chronological sequence. ... Read more

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When it was first performed in October 1960, Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet was greeted with a standing ovation and was given a full encore. Its popularity has continued to the present day with over 100 commercial recordings appearing over the last 40 years.

The appeal of the work is not hard to identify; immediately communicative, the quartet also contains rich seams of deeper meaning. This book is the first to examine its musical design in detail and it seeks to overthrow the charges of superficiality that have arisen as a result of the work's popular success.

The core of this study is the close analysis of the work, but this is placed in context with a discussion of Shostakovich's reputation and historical position, the circumstances of the quartet's composition and the subsequent controversies that have surrounded it. The work was composed during the so-called "Thaw" years of the Soviet Union, and the cultural and political background of this period is considered, together with Shostakovich's life and work during this time.

David Fanning argues persuasively that the Eighth String Quartet is a landmark in twentieth-century music in its transcendence of the extra-musical meanings that it invokes; that it is "music that liberates itself from the shackles of its contexts."

The book features an accompanying CD of the work. ... Read more

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A thorough examination of Shostakovich's string quartets is long overdue. Although they can justifiably lay claim to being the most significant and frequently performed twentieth-century oeuvre for that ensemble, there has been no systematic English-language study of the entire cycle. Judith Kuhn's book begins such a study, undertaken with the belief that, despite a growing awareness of the universality of Shostakovich's music, much remains to be learned from the historical context and an examination of the music's language. Much of the controversy about Shostakovich's music has been related to questions of meaning. The conflicting interpretations put forth by scholars during the musicological 'Shostakovich wars' have shown the impossibility of fixing a single meaning in the composer's music. Commentators have often heard the quartets as political in nature, although there have been contradictory views as to whether Shostakovich was a loyal communist or a dissident. The works are also often described as vivid narratives, perhaps a confessional autobiography or a chronicle of the composer's times.The cycle has also been heard to examine major philosophical issues posed by the composer's life and times, including war, death, love, the conflict of forces of good and evil, the nature of subjectivity, the power of creativity and the place of the individual - and particularly the artist - in society. Soviet commentaries on the quartets typically describe the works through the lens of Socialist-Realist mythological master narratives. Recent Western commentaries see Shostakovich's quartets as expressions of broader twentieth-century subjectivity, filled with ruptures and uncertainty. What musical features enable these diverse interpretations? Kuhn examines each quartet in turn, looking first at its historical and biographical context, with special attention to the cultural questions being discussed at the time of its writing. She then surveys the work's reception history, and follows with a critical discussion of the quartet's architectural and harmonic features.Using the new tools of Sonata Theory, Kuhn provides a fresh analytical approach to Shostakovich's music, giving valuable and detailed insights into the quartets, showing how the composer's mastery of form has enabled these works to be heard as active participants in the Soviet and Western cultural discourses of their time, while remaining compelling and relevant to twenty-first-century listeners. ... Read more

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As the Soviet Union's foremost composer, Shostakovich's status in the West has always been problematic. Regarded by some as a collaborator, and by others as a symbol of moral resistance, both he and his music met with approval and condemnation in equal measure. The demise of the Communist state has, if anything, been accompanied by a bolstering of his reputation, but critical engagement with his multi-faceted achievements has been patchy. This Companion offers a new starting point and a guide for readers who seek a fuller understanding of Shostakovich's place in the history of music. Bringing together an international team of scholars, the book brings up-to-date research to bear on the full range of Shostakovich's musical output, addressing scholars, students and all those interested in this complex, iconic figure. ... Read more

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For Chamber Orchestra. ... Read more

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Dmitry Shostakovich's memoirs, Testimony, `related to and edited by Solomon Volkov', have been the subject of fierce debate since their publication in 1979. Was Testimony a forgery, made up by an impudent impostor, or was it the deathbed confession of a bent, but unbroken, man? Even now, years after the fall of the communist regime, a coterie of well-placed Western musicologists have regularly raised objections to Testimony, hoping with each attack to undermine the picture of Shostakovich presented in his memoirs that of a man of enormous moral stature, bitterly disillusioned with the Soviet system.Here, Allan Ho and Dmitry Feofanov systematically address all of the accusations levelled at Testimony and Solomon Volkov, Shostakovich's amanuensis, amassing an enormous amount of material about Shostakovich and his position in Soviet society and burying forever the picture of Shostakovich as a willing participant in the communist charade. ALLAN B. HO is a musicologist, DMITRY FEOFANOV a lawyer and pianist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Diverse topics and sources
I bought this book a while back, and kept it for almost a year before I read it.I wanted to give the book my highest level of attention.Well, it was worth the wait.Shostakovich Reconsidered has a wealth of information for any serious (and not-so-serious) Shostakovich scholar.My only criticism of the book is that Ian MacDonald's (The New Shostakovich) name should be more associated with this book than it is.He has written a sizeable array of articles in this book, and each one has proven to be as interesting as The New Shostakovich.I found the "courtroom" approach to supporting or refuting the memoirs of Shostakovich (Testimony) a little tedious after awhile, but I enjoyed the information nevertheless.I also found that Laurel Fay's book (Shostakovich: A Life) suffers from "selective scholarship" in the eyes of the authors.This should be interesting, as I dive into that book next. . .

Diverse topics and sources
I bought this book a while back, and kept it for almost a year before I read it.I wanted to give the book my highest level of attention.Well, it was worth the wait.Shostakovich Reconsidered has a wealth of information for any serious (and not-so-serious) Shostakovich scholar.My only criticism of the book is that Ian MacDonald's (The New Shostakovich) name should be more associated with this book than it is.He has written a sizeable array of articles in this book, and each one has proven to be as interesting as The New Shostakovich.I found the "courtroom" approach to supporting or refuting the memoirs of Shostakovich (Testimony) a little tedious after awhile, but I enjoyed the information nevertheless.I also found that Laurel Fay's book (Shostakovich: A Life) suffers from "selective scholarship" in the eyes of the authors.This should be interesting, as I dive into that book next. . .

Silence follows!
A thoroughly researched and well written investigation of the composer-as-dissident.For contemporaries and friends of Shostakovich as well as careful listeners, the composer's dissidence is plainly evident inhis music.

One wonders what the counter-revisionist musicologists willmake of Shostakovich Reconsidered.Under the weight of Ho's and Feofanov'sevidence there is little choice but to remain silent or to torpidly dismissthe book.

According to Terry Teachout in the October, 1999 issue ofCommentary, that is precisely what Professor Fay has done in her upcomingbiography of Shostakovich.

Certainly (one hopes) not the last word onShostakovich, but a must buy for all lovers of the great composer.

Essential reading for anyone who cares for Shostakovich!
Shostakovich Reconsidered is a timely publication that puts into perspective all the issues revolving around the defamation of the composer's memoirs (Testimony, edited by Solomon Volkov).

Whichever sideof the fence one is on, the book comprehensively gathers all the witnessesand testimonies so that one can understand the entire issue surrounding thecontroversy. At the same time, the second half of the book presents variousinteresting essays on the composer and his music and other fascinatingmaterials such as the symposium by Maxim SHostakovich.

On the whole, itis very illuminating. On the subject ofTestimony, it could very well bethe last word on the subject. ... Read more

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Dmitry Shostakovich wrote regularly to his close friend Isaak Glikman during their forty-year relationship from the early 1930s to the composer's death in 1975. The core of Chronicle of a Friendship is a collection of 288 of these letters starting in 1941, when both correspondents were evacuated from Leningrad. Earlier letters were destroyed during the siege of Leningrad; however, the chronological gap is more than compensated for by Glikman's detailed account, seen very much from the inside, of the main events in the composer's life during the turbulent 1930s, the height of Stalin's terror. The book amounts to a highly personal biography in which Glikman has used the authentic voice of Shostakovich in his letters as a catalyst for comprehensive explications and reminiscences. A portrait emerges of a complex and acutely sensitive personality, endowed with enormous moral integrity, humanity, compassion and a caustic, often self-deprecating sense of humour. The Chronicle is a treasury of facts about milestone events, dates of compositions, first performances and so on.But in its revelations of the deeper, tormented feelings of the composer's soul, especially in letters which reflect on his increasingly debilitating illnesses, his preoccupation with death, and the crippling artistic and moral consequences of living under an ideologically tyrannical regime, it is much more than that Chronicle of a Friendship was first published in Russian as Letters to a Friend in 1993. This is its first appearance in English. ... Read more

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A Shostakovich Casebook brings together 25 essays, interviews, newspaper articles, and reviews—many newly available since the collapse of the Soviet Union—to create a volume of essential reading and cutting-edge scholarship in Russian music studies. The contributors include Malcolm H. Brown, Laurel Fay, Irina Antonovna Shostakovich, and Richard Taruskin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Best Shostakovich Book Out There
This book is so informative.You get many different Shostakovich experts talking about what information exists out there.Incredibly informative about Shostakovich, but also about what information is reliable if you would like to do further research.
I highly, highly recommend this book, before all other Shostakovich materials out there.

Agreement
I write only to second the first two reviews and bring the debate up to date. When 'Testimony' first appeared in 1979, the naive political attack of the then Soviet union obscured the more profound criticism of those who knew Shostakovich well - namely, their incredulity that a personality as complex and secretive as Shostakovich was would ever have revealed himself to such a degree to a comparative stranger. Volkov did not help his cause by refusing to disclose the bulk of the transcript for many years.

But when he finally he did so, it turned out that his practical reasons for keeping the ms. to himself were correct - for inspection revealed such obvious indications that Shostakovich had by no means endorsed the book as to end the controversy and Volkov's reputation with it. This analysis is detailed in the Shostakovich Casebook, and also in the Bard Festival handbook. The material is not at all dry, but quite interesting to people wondering how working historials and biographers actually do business.

It is worth noting, however, that even the harshest critics acknowledge the enormous service 'Testimony' performed to Shostakovich, in presenting the West with a different image of the man than simply genius-cum-party-hack. It caused many people (myself, for example) to take a look at a musical accomplishment that was prodigious by any standard. The revitalized interest in DDS's chamber music, songs, and what were once considered his minor works, has led to a massive and long overdue appreciation of a towering musical genius. Volkov is owed a debt of gratitude for that that no one denies.

A necessary corrective
I could not possibly agree more strongly with Mr. Katz, the other reviewer. The Washington Post review cannot be let stand as it misunderstands the problem and demonstrates more than ever our need for this book. It is a sad truth that every book of falsehood published needs probably five or ten books of truth to correct.

Plus, and alone worth the price of the volume, there is included one of Richard Taruskin's invaluable essays on Shostakovich demonstrating once more his astonishing vision and learning with respect to Russian music.

A Reply to Tim Page
I've never posted a review before, but I can't allow the above "editorial review" to go unanswered. I don't understand how, after reading Laurel Fay's article in this book, there could possibly be a sliver of doubt in anybody's mind that Testimony is a massive fraud.


While I agree that the view of Dmitri Shostakovich as a loyal communist is naive and simplistic, the view espoused by Testimony is at least as much so. The veracity of the portrait of Shostakovich presented in Testimony is, at least, open to questions. The authenticity of the book itself has been demolished by Laurel Fay's excellent detective work. There can no longer be any doubt that what Shostakovich affixed his signature to was a collection of previously published writings. The departure from these earlier texts comes, in every single case, immediately following the end of the page which has been signed. There could not be any clearer evidence that the authentification of the book was carried out under false pretenses.


Mr. Page draws attention to the agressive tone and the sometimes-monotonous focus of A Shostakovich Casebook. Publishing this kind of jeremiad wouldn't be necessary if Western journalists didn't persist in their stubborn refusal to acknowledge that Testimony, whatever its merits may be, was written by Solomon Volkov without the help of Dmitri Shostakovich.


--Jonah I. Katz

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ... Read more

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This volume presents recent research into Dmitry Shostakovich's life (1906-1975) and work by leading scholars, and aims to place the composer in a variety of different contexts: musical, literary, and historical. The contributors are musicologists, Russian literature specialists, biographers, and cultural historians, and their diverse fields of expertise are reflected in the interdisciplinary nature of the materials collected here, contributing substantially to our knowledge of the composer. ... Read more

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op. 34 24 Preludes for Piano ... Read more

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For Chorus and Orchestra (piano reduction). ... Read more

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Song Album ... Read more

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For Orchestra. ... Read more

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These volumes are the first releases of an ambitious series started in 1999 by DSCH, the exclusive publisher of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich. Each volume contains new engravings; articles regarding the history of the compositions; facsimile pages of Shostakovich's manuscripts, outlines, and rough drafts; as well as interpretations of the manuscripts. In total, 150 volumes are planned for publication. ... Read more

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Chapters: String Quartet No. 8, String Quartet No. 1, String Quartet No. 3, String Quartet No. 9, String Quartet No. 15, String Quartet No. 12, String Quartet No. 13, String Quartet No. 2, String Quartet No. 5, String Quartet No. 6, String Quartet No. 11, String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 14, String Quartet No. 4, String Quartet No. 10. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 40. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (Op. 110) was written in three days (July 1214, 1960). It was premiered that year in Leningrad by the Beethoven Quartet. The piece was written shortly after two traumatic events: the composer's diagnosis with myelitis, and his joining the Communist Party reluctantly. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war"; his son, Maxim, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the authorities. Shostakovich's friend, Lev Lebedinsky, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide around this time. The work is one of his most private; in a letter to Isaak Glikman he described it as "an ideologically deficient quartet nobody needs... It is a pseudo-tragic quartet, so much so that while I was composing it I shed the same amount of tears as I would have to pee after half-a-dozen beers". The work was written in Dresden, where Shostakovich was to write music for the film Five Days, Five Nights, a joint project by Soviet and East German filmmakers about Bombing of Dresden in World War II. The quartet, extremely compact and focused, is in five interconnected movements and lasts twenty minutes: The first movement opens wit...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=227097 ... Read more