Volume 10 Issue 1 - September 2004

y fame/a Margles
When Testimony': The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich as related
to and edl/ed by Solomon Volkov
aprieared in 1979, it
caused a sensation. The Soviet Union's most prestigious and patriotic
composer, who had written works like the stirring Fifth Symphony,
was . revealed t be a di illusioned, deeply bitter and rather nasty covert
d _
1ss1den.
_
Inevitably his works started to be reinterpreted. But in Testimony
friends and colleagues missed the gentle voice of the deeply
humane, odest and _
reserved man they knew. Soon the authenticity of
the
_
memoirs was bemg challenged. Volkov was called a 'pretentious,
half-educated bedbug' and accused of plagiarism and fraud.
After the recent release of these two books from the opposing
camps, Shostakovich and Stalin, and A Shostakovich Casebook, Volkov
wrote a letter to the New York Times predicting that the controversy
will probably last for a long time. 'My advice would be: read all the
books, listen to the music, and then decide for yourself.'
Both books illuminate Shostakovich's situation in the Soviet Union.
Given the complexity of Soviet politics, and the multi-faceted intricacies
of Russian culture, there is certainly plenty of room for both
mterpretallons of the composer who anti-Volkovian Richard Taruskin
predicts will emerge as the most consequential of the twentieth century.
unexpectedly vicious attack of
'a fraud', and accuses the author
of 'a crude betrayal of its subject's
principles and ideals'.
The Russians are even less diplomatic.
Six former students, in a letter
written in 1979, see the memoirs
as a sinister plot to distance Shostakovich
from revolutionary Soviet
music. They call Volkov a 'malicious
renegrade', and the book a
'pitiful fake'. Shostakovich's assistant
Boris Tishchenko calls Volkov
a 'music hanger-on', and Testimony
a 'book by Volkov about Volkov'.
Shostakovich's widow Irina points
out that Volkov didn't spend enough
time with Shostakovich to produce
more than a few pages.
ophone Rag, animal imitations, and
comedy routines about an abandoned
bride or King Tut emerging from his
tomb.
Vermazen, has produced a compelling
view of the early history of
American popular music. His academic
training pays off in the depth
of his explorations of racism in minstrel
shows, the decline of vaudvifle,
the influence of circus music, and
the
role of improvisation. He has
unearthed
previously unexplored
materials, which provide the historical
photos, along with thorough references
and discography.
The Other Side of Nowhere
There is also a great deal of psy- Edited by Daniel Fischlin and Ajay
chologically revealing material
here. 'That he actually was loyal
and instrumental to the system he
despised and h;ited made him hate
Tms coLLECand
despise himself,' writes Hen-
ry Orlov, underlining the poign-
Heble
Wesleyan University Press
460 pages $29.95 US
TION OF papers
presented at
ancy of Shostakovich's unfathom- the Guelph
ably complex situation. J azz F est1va · I
ov's compelling narrative. , ber 7 at the St. Lawrence Centre
ting his critics as demonstrating tra performs Shostakovich's Fifth
just to tradihow
Shostakovich's music needs Symphony at Roy Thomson Hall
tional musical structures, but to trato
be placed in its social, psycho- on October 21 and 23 at 8.00
logical and political context. What
tween the 1
Great Composer and viet cultural life. In the process.he
are actively involved in performthe
Brutal Dictator
By Solomon Volkov
reveals how Stalin was especially
Translated by Antonina W. Bouis derstood the power of art _ not
Knopf
330 pages $45.00 just spiritually but politically.
THE SHOSTAKOVICH of Shostakovi-
eh and Stalin is a secret dissident.
For Volkov, the symphonies are
coded with anti-Stalinist and anti-
Soviet messages. The ending of the
phant celebration of Soviet ideolo-
gy it is considered to be, but a
subversive narrative of Stalin's
Great Terror.
1948. How Shostakovich managed TheEmersonQuanet performsShoslooks
at how
to survive is at the heart of Volk- takovich 's Quanet No. 2 on Octoimprovisatory
jazz provides
Volkov is not so much rebut- The Toronto Symphony Orchesalternatives
not
ditional social structures as well.
The authors form a diverse group
Shostakovich and Stalin: The he offers is a deeply knowledgeaof
usicians, artists, writers, po-
. Extraordinary Relationship Be- ble and fascinating history of Soets,
and scholars. But almost all
ing experimental music, and this
dangerous because he actually unmakes
even the most theoretical of
these essays delightfully enthusi-
astic about the music.
Pauline Oliveros relates her own
collaborative experiences as a wom-
an composer and improviser. Dana
That Moaning Saxophone: The Reason emphasizes the integral
Six Brown Brothers and the role of the aud1"ence J o St
Volkov leaves no doubt how 'in- A Shostakovich Casebook from Lindsay, Ontario, were the
conceivably and inexpressibly un-
predictable and dangerous' living
under Stalin was . 'Probably no-
one suffered more for his music'
vich, like most artists who man-
ful and murderous terror, did live
constantly on the edge of destruc- f
tion and despair.
ing, especially after the two crises k
that Yolkov considers pivotal,
Edited by Malcolm Hamrick Brown
Indiana University Press
424 pages $63 . 50
Tms FASCINATING and important col-
lection of essays, documents and
a ft er th ey h a d practice · d asst "d uousmemoirs
presents the case against
Testimony. Paul Mitchinson gives
a surprisingly even-handed account
o the issues. Damning evidence
is offered by Leslie Fay, who de-
nal manuscript of Testimony. She
ular music with their act featuring the artistic direction of Ajay Hebeth
of Mtsensk in 1936, and the rogat
•
ory context , an , at worst,
d
• as n an-
Fifth Symphony is not the trium-
Dawning of a Mus1'cal Craze yek d1"scusses the 1"nfl u en ce o f a
By Bruce Vermazen
pan-African sensibility, Julie Dawn
Oxford University Press
Smith questions why there are so
303 pages $56.00 few gay jazz musicians, and Sherrie
Tucker explodes the myth of
IN 1921, The Six Brown Brothers
the solitary genius with no com-
highest paid act in vaudeville. But
by 1933 they were finished, wiped
ing movies, and changing fashions
claims Yolkov. Indeed, Shostakoin
musical theatre.
phasizes that while the Brothers
weren't the first to use the saxophone
in popular music, and they weren't
He took huge risks to keep writeven
the best players around, they·
larity of the saxophone. For him they
munity or context. Michael Jarrett
interviews a number of legendary
out by the Great Depression, talkjazz
record producers, and gets
wonderful comments like John
•
Snyd er ' s a b out S un R a s group,
Bruce Vermazen, a retired philos-
aged to survive under Stalin's willophy
professor and cornetist, em-
ly for a re cor d . mg session, · b ut en d -
ed u P recor d . mg t ota II Y d"f" 1 ierent
ma t ena · I "Th ey h a d re h earse d b e-
·
1 ·ng u It ima " t e I Y improvisatory · · " ·
E t · b"bl . ·
x ens1ve 1 10grap h" 1es and d1stermines
that Volkov tricked Shosh.
· h h
were responsible for the huge popucograp
ies ennc
t ese provocata
ovich into approving the origitivel
Y · msig · htf u I essays.
Stalin's devastating denunciation of calls it at best 'a simulated monotypify
the history of American pop- The Guelph Jazz Festival, under
Shostakovich's opera Lady Mac- logue stripped of its original inter-
blackface, hit songs, including their ble, takes place 1·n Guelph firom
31W\iv:TIIHOsigna;turesong,ThatoaningSa.x-Sept 8tol:2 --=-,---
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