Music for Silenced Voices: Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets Review

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Music for Silenced Voices: Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets ReviewMy review of this fine book is unavoidably influenced by the fact that I have been a huge fan of Shostakovich for many years, and not all Shostakovich either ... yep, it's his string quartets that speak to me so personally. Imagine my excitement when I learned about Music For Silenced Voices.
The title is aptly chosen; while his symphonies were often carefully written to avoid disfavor with the Communist regime, Shostakovich felt no such need to censor or disguise himself in the fifteen string quartets he composed during the last four decades of his life. Shostakovich's Russia was a country defined by its government - a gray, faceless world of ministries and bureaucrats. The brilliant composer suffered the indignity of having his work criticized and even suppressed by Stalin and his stooges, if the powers-that-be decided that the work failed to adequately promote nationalistic ideals.
Such a completely irrational set of rules and restrictions silenced some, but not all, of Shostakovich's voice. Of necessity in order to have his music heard at all, he made sometimes major concessions in his large-scale writing. But the composer's quartets allowed him to create music that was often darker, but somehow more personal, in my opinion, than most of his symphonic work.
How does a book like this manage to turn the exquisite sound of the fifteen quartets into a narrative? Again, I must claim a bias; I already love this music, so I am probably inclined to be generous here. I do believe that Wendy Lesser has done a superb job of collecting source material to tell a very specific story. The events (both personal and global) that took place during his life were always sure to leave their mark on the mood of Shostokovich's work. It is enlightening to trace the master's artistic achievements against the events of his lifetime.
I can't really say how engaging this book could be for someone who has never heard at least some of the music first, although it certainly paints a moving picture of a man tormented by fear, capable of weakness and strength, driven to create even in the most stifling conditions.Music for Silenced Voices: Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets Overview

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