Soviet Composers and the Development of Soviet Music

Book excerpt: Soviet Composers and the Development of Soviet Music (1970) is a thought-provoking review of Soviet music and musicians. This scholarly and readable distillation of factual information and well-reasoned conclusions is the result of many years of exhaustive study of reference works, monographs and journals, as well as musical scores both published and unpublished, all supplemented by interviews and personal participation in Soviet musical life. The author presents a cogent, critical analysis of the relationship between extra-musical pressures and the theory and practice of artistic autonomy. The lives and works of some two dozen major Soviet composers are discussed, and insight is provided into Soviet thinking about music, and thinking about the arts.