Shostakovich talking with Rudolf Barshai in the early 1970s And here is the final part of my book. I am really pleased with a lot of what's in this part (if I say so myself), though there are a few things I would like to change, including one bit that I don't think works at all. If you've made it this far and would like to let me know what you think, you can leave a comment or email me via the contact form. Maybe one day you'll get to see this with pictures and world bubbles? We can but dream. Part 5 – Spring 1969 Scene 1 Moscow Rudolf Barshai is getting ready to leave his apartment. He put ..read more

Here is part 4 of my written-but-as-yet-unillustrated graphic novel about Shostakovich in the 1960s, Sleeping Forever Beneath the Dry Earth. It includes an interlude set in 1965, which I'm not sure if I'll keep. Incidentally, a version of the final speech of part 4 was the first bit of the whole book I ever wrote. I was sitting on the steps of the Albert Hall in London in the summer of, I think, 2016, queueing for a BBC Prom concert. If you've landed on this page and want to start from the beginning of the book, click here. Interlude – 1965 At Shostakovich’s Moscow apartment. DS is in his stud ..read more

Shostakovich and his son Maxim on the Moscow-Leningrad express train, in 1962. This is the third part of my written-but-not-yet-illustrated graphic novel about Shostakovich in the 1960s, entitled Sleeping Forever Beneath the Dry Earth. It gets a bit silly in the middle, and I'm not sorry. I'm not quite sure the end lands in the way I want, so I may revise it a little at some point. If you want to see the bit of Kozintsev's Hamlet that features in this part, click here (you also get a little bit of Anastasia Vertinskaya as Ophelia first). Oh, and a "General" is a type of enormous ..read more

Shostakovich, Kondrashin and Yevtushenko after the premiere of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony in 1962 Below is the second of five parts of my unfinished graphic novel about Shostakovich in the 1960s. If you've arrived here without reading part 1, click here to begin at the beginning. Part 2 – 1962 DS is in hospital. IG visits. IG: Are you in to unexpected visitors? DS: As ever, I make an exception for you, Isaak Davidovich! Alas, you just missed Irina. IG: I thought I detected a little more colour in your cheeks. Marriage is treating you well. DS: I find this one much more amenable t ..read more

Here's something I finished writing two years ago - the text of my graphic novel about Shostakovich in the 1960s. I don't know if I will ever finish the drawings; life at the moment gives no opportunity to tackle it. The thought of it sitting unread is bad, though, so here it is, if you want to read it. This is the  first part of five. There may be typos ahead; there are certainly a few spots I'd like the change. But I'm pleased with it.  Read it now, because I might change my mind and remove this soon.    Sleeping Forever Beneath the Dry Earth Part One – December 30th 1 ..read more

Who cares if it's the right guy? It's all Schmidt anyway Norman Lebrecht has been laying into Austrian Composer Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) in The Critic: “A former cellist in Mahler’s Vienna Opera orchestra, Schmidt was an embittered Austrian whose constant resentments isolated him from the mainstream. In his last year of life, he became an enthusiastic Nazi. He is regarded by the Vienna Philharmonic as part of their symphonic heritage and several leading conductors evince enthusiasm for his four symphonies.” He goes on: "I decided to sample [Berliner Philharmoniker Music Director] Ki ..read more

Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi Decca Decca’s double album of Joe Hisaishi film music isn’t quite as essential as is claimed on the cover, but contains enough good stuff to justify a listen. The best comes from a session Hisaishi recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra back in 2010, not previously released outside Asia. The LSO’s playing is as sumptuous and tight as you’d expect, with a selection of familiar pieces from Miyazaki Hayao’s films and some more unusual items, such as Water Traveler from an unfamiliar 1990s Japanese film about kid samurai. Leader Roman Simovic is lu ..read more

What can violinists do when they're stuck at home? Julia Fischer's solution? Call some friends and record a joint Bach Chaccone, of course. In a Facebook post, she and her colleague explained: I had the idea to do a "quarantine version" of Bach's Chaconne together with some other violinists. Here's what Augustin Hadelich says about how it started: "In early April, I was talking to my friend The Official Julia Fischer, and she told me about an idea she had during this quarantine: what if she played the first 8 bars of Bach's Chaconne and then asked friends and colleagues to record the othe ..read more

WNO War and Peace (Photo: Clive Barda)When Welsh National Opera returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, this week, they bring with them a real rarity – a production of Prokofiev’s mightiest operatic undertaking, and perhaps his greatest disappointment. Prokofiev conceived of his setting of Tolstoy’s War and Peace as a contribution to the Soviet war effort at a moment, during WW2, when Russians were finding themselves living out a national drama of Tolstoian proportions. Prokofiev’s adaptation grew in scale, from a compressed narrative of 11 scenes – first performed in 1945, one month ..read more

Today marks the centenary of the birth of the composer Galina Ustvlskaya, in Petrograd (now St Petersburg) in 1919. After studying composition with Shostakovich during WW2, she developed one of the most singular voices of Twentieth Century music - a truly distinctive sound at once fragile and brutal. It was my very considerable privilege last year to speak to a number of people who knew her and worked with her, including the film maker Josee Voormans, the pianist and composer Reinbert de Leeuw, the pianist Alexei Lubimov and the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. You can read a the full artic ..read more