Forlaget skriver om denne boka:
Dmitrij Sjostakovitsj, en av vårt århundres mest ruvende musikkbegavelser, forteller her om sitt liv. Det er et åpenhjertig, gripende og ofte forstemmende dokument om komponistens eget liv, og i stor grad også en bok om kunstens og kunstnerens kår i Russland under Stalin og senere.
The extraordinary story of the last century's greatest composer and his relationship with the Soviet dictator.
Political posturing by the likes of Saint Bob and soon-to-be beatified Bono is a rather safer business than the rack on which the most compelling composer of the 20th century, Dmitri Shostakovich, lived his life, between his music and the Soviet tyranny under which he wrote it.
Solomon Volkov 's definitive book dissects the most complex entwinement between art and terror in musical history, exploring Shostakovich's battle to express himself and the feelings of the Russian people, while avoiding a one-way ticket to the Gulag.
One intriguing possibility is that Stalin's fascination with film - and Shostakovich's genius at writing film music - may well have allowed the composer to live.
Ed Vulliamy
