Welcome to Litsy!

I've had this on my TBR forever but it took the non-fiction quarter of #readingenvyrussia to finally get to it. If you're like me and struggle to read history, make it a cultural history like this one, where the history is told sideways through the life and work of an artist, in this case the composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his hometown of Leningrad, up until and during the Siege itself. ↘️

یکی برای شنیدن
یکی برای به یادآوردن
و یکی برای نوشیدن
جولین بارنز با قلم شیوای خود دراین رمان به زندگی دیمتری شوستاکوویچ آهنگساز بزرگ روس می پردازد.
سوالی که از خود پس از خواندن کتاب می پرسی این است ، گفتمان های قدرت تا چه میزان صداقت هنری هنرمندان را تحت الشعاع خود قرار دادند ‌؟ جولین بارنز از زبان شوستاکوویچ می گوید به آثارم توجه کن نه به گفته هایم
#هیاهوی_زمان
#bookstagram #readingnook #julianbarnes #goodreads #shostakovich#whatimreading

The story of Russian composer, Shostakovich, and interwoven with WWII and the siege of Leningrad. Really well-told YA story. Trigger warnings for cannibalism and eating pets.

It‘s a little hot to do much more than read books and drink a summer beer.

Thanks to this book I found the second Waltz! 💕

The author weaves a basic biography of Shostakovich with an intense time in Russian history. It‘s very readable and very interesting. 🇷🇺

The Leningrad Symphony has been on near constant rotation in my ears for years. I love it so so so much. While some of the more technical discussions of Shostakovich‘s music went over my head, I very much enjoyed reading about how his music helped this musicologist-author through dark times. And I discovered some new pieces to love too. (And maybe bought a sticker.) #Russia

Good company while I listen to Symphony No 5 and wait for my flute lesson to start

All of these tasks made it almost impossible to survive alone. Only by creating sanctuaries where many came together to share the work, the food, and the warmth could people carry on. "We moved into one room and lived as a family playing chess, reading Pushkin out loud in the evenings, one man remembered. "It was vital to keep helping others."

In later symphonies, however, Shostakovich often quoted the Revolutionary songs of his youth....
But we can never be certain exactly what he meant by them..... And if we assume that every recognizable tune carries a valuable secret message, then what precisely does Shostakovich mean when, in his intense Second Cello Concerto, he quotes an Odessan jingle called "Pretzels, Buy My Pretzels"?