Stephen Johnson (4)

I first read this book last year and expected to love it. I have always had huge respect for Stephen Johnson and found him an insightful critic, whose tastes I share. I didn’t review it then but it was a disappointment. I came to the book again in the last week, having listened to a couple of performances of Mahler 8, hoping to find more in it than the first time but I was still underwhelmed.
I suppose the main issue for me is that there is really almost nothing new in the story that Johnson tells: the intense rehearsals and triumphant performance in Munich, the Alma/Gustav/Walter (Gropius) triangle if I can call it that, the retelling for the umpteenth time of the meeting between Mahler and Sibelius (I really think there should be a ban on anyone writing about this encounter until there is something new and original to say) and so on. But more than that, his writing on the texts and related literature is unfortunately rather pedestrian and uninspired and even when he talks about the music - which one would think would be Johnson’s strength - it’s dutiful, flat and ultimately fails to convey what was truly extraordinary about the fusion Mahler wrought. It all feels rather like a missed opportunity.… (meer)

It would never have occurred to me to find a link between the music of Fleetwood Mac and that of Shostakovich. But reading some of the tributes to Peter Green, the guitarist in the original Fleetwood Mac band who died recently, and who was badly affected by mental health problems brought on by drug use, I noticed these couple of sentences,

'Green’s musicianship had progressed from the technical and emotional cogency of his earlier work to something bordering, frankly, on sublime. As though the agony and ecstasy he had long abandoned formulating into words or conventional communication could be spoken more articulately than ever through music.'

It emphasises the emotional impact that music can have and music as a means of communication. Which is principally the theme of Stephen Johnson's book on Shostakovich. As a young teenager Mr Johnson developed an obsession with the music of Shostakovich. He would listen to recordings over and over again and replay them in his head. In later life he studied music and became a musical journalist and a composer. The book is based on a radio programme he made 'Shostakovich, A journey into Light' which was broadcast on Radio 3. I was looking forward to reading this as I have always enjoyed Shostakovich but I am nowhere near as knowledgeable, or as obsessed, as Mr Johnson.

On the whole I enjoyed it. Though I had some misgivings at the outset as the author makes regular references to 'Testimony' by Solomon Volkov which is a largely discredited biography of the composer. Mr Johnson acknowledges the controversy associated with the book but nevertheless makes regular use of quotations from it. He raised more doubts by making references to the philosopher Roger Scruton whose views I tend not to agree with. But he overcame these doubts by his displaying his deep knowledge of the music and by his open honesty about his own lifelong bouts of mental illness.

The book starts where the radio programme (which is still available in the BBC sound archives) ended. With an interview with Victor Kozlov, a clarinettist who was in the orchestra that famously played Shostakovich's 7th Symphony dedicated to the composer's home city of Leningrad, during the 900 day siege in the second world war. After he had heard Mr Kozlov describe the event itself he asked. 'When you hear the music today does it still have the same effect?' Mr Kozlov, with his wife sitting next to him, could not reply. They both burst into tears.

The book goes on to explore Shostakovich's music in more detail together with its emotional and intellectual impact on Mr Johnson. He is well read and musically very literate. He makes steady references to works of philosophy and explains some of the structures and references in the music. Especially the use by Shostakovich of the musical notation of his own initials.

It is a relatively short book and is by no means intended as an encylcopedic guide. Inevitably in any book on a Russian composer of the time there is heavy emphasis on the political conditions in the Soviet Union. Those fearful conditions are without doubt important but I always find it disappointing that they lead authors to ignore other elements of Shostakovich's life and work. He was a composer very much in the Russian musical tradition. He had a life outside music with his family and friends. He was no doubt immersed in Russian culture and my guess is that he was a Russian patriot despite the distorted and threatening political situation. But the overwhelming message of the book is that of the emotional impact that music can have. And in that I am very much in agreement with Mr Johnson.… (meer)

This book reads like extensive program notes for much of Shostakovich's oeuvre, mixed with the author's personal recollections of his own childhood and times when Shostakovich's music was influential in his own struggle with mental health problems.

The analysis of Shostakovich's music was fascinating, especially the focus on the message of hope found throughout. The discussion of Johnson's struggle with bipolar disorder, and his mother's descent into insanity, were very personal: this feels like a book that Johnson wrote in order to do his own processing and healing.… (meer)