TESTIMONY
- The Story of Shostakovich
Directed by
Tony Palmer
Testimony, based
loosely on Shostakovichs own memoirs
as related to and edited by his colleague,
Solomon Volkov, is not just the story
of a composer. In fact, the musical
aspect of his life is only the sub-plot
to a far greater drama, the relationship
between Shostakovich and Stalin. Testimony
is about Russia during the reign of
Stalin. While politicians, generals,
peasants, poets, Church leaders were
being purged and destroyed - in all,
some 31 million of them -Shostakovich
somehow survived. How? Why? At what
cost, personal as well as public? It
is an amazing and awesome tale. It is
also true.
Review
by Rob Barnett
