Shostakovich: The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers (The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers)

Rating:
Summary: This is a good, thorough beginning book on Shostakovich
Review: Over the course of the last few months I have been nursing an ever increasing love of Shostakovich. This is the first book I have read on the master and, in light of other readings I have done (Volkov, Fanning, MacDonald, Wilson)this turned out to be a good primer. Its strength lies in that (outside from a few quotes from Testimony) it stays away from the Volkov controversy and focuses mostly on facts (i.e. who Zhdanov, Sollertinsky, Meyerhold were, the political horrors of Stalin, his major works in relationship to his life). For those searching for a book a that isn't too daunting, but will still give them a thorough introduction, this is a good start.