I recently obtained a copy of Shostakovich: A Life Remembered , by Elizabeth Wilson.  It's a remarkable book, to say the least, and certain to become a basic reference on the composer's life. The author's express purpose is to recreate the times and atmosphere that Shostakovich lived in.  She uses a documentary technique: Interviews, surviving letters, memoirs, published (and previously unpublished) material and so forth.  This material, and the _link_ing sections by the author, paint a portrait of a remarkable man working in circumstances that were often unspeakable. The general argument is that DDS was up against political and social conditions even more taxing previously described, even in Testimony . The famous public condemnations of his work in 1936 and 1948 were the tip of the iceberg; in fact he faced battles with boorish Stalinist officials and their musical syncophants over nearly everything- every symphony, every quartet, every concerto, every song- that he released for public performance from around 1930 on.  The frequency and virulence of the attacks, especially during the Stalin period, can scarcely be imagined. This makes it more remarkable that DDS was able to keep writing and remain true to his artistic vision.  His major compromise- aside from the occasional piece of hackwork- was that he didn't write for the opera stage after the war years.  He knew that the powers-that-be would prevent its being staged. The personal portrait of DDS that emerges is one of a private man whose battles were mainly fought within.  So utterly confident in his work that he almost never revised it, he was thrilled to hear it presented and yet acutely uncomfortable in hearing it praised.  (He worked quickly, dashing off the Festive Overture in one sitting.)  He was fiercely loyal, perhaps to a fault, to those who showed loyalty to him.  Despite an initially stormy marriage, he was protective of his family, with an accompanying mortal fear of not being able to provide for them. The documentation allows Wilson to present multiple versions- sometimes contradictory- of the same events, leaving the readers to make up their own minds.  (DDS's surprising decision to join the Communist party- described variously as an act of either coercion or weakness- is a case in point.)  Some revelations- for example, that he was contemplating suicide over the Communist business and that the 8th String Quartet was conceived as a final work- may be taken with a grain or more of salt.  But we are introduced to a host of those involved in the composer's life, and, along with it, a culture little known in the West. There is no intensive musical analysis.  Instead, each major work is placed in a personal and/or political context- what it meant in terms of the composer's life and Soviet events.  In this sense, Wilson at least in part agrees with Testimony , although she avoids getting into the controversy over its authenticity. There are gaps.  Except for the famous 1949 World Peace Conference in New York, there is almost no reference to his foreign travels.)  There are also some missing persons, most noticably Maxim Shostakovich, who, we are informed, is writing his own memoirs. Wilson (for seven years a cello student of Rostropovich in Moscow, during which time her father was British ambassador to the USSR) states that she did not intend to write the definitive biography of Shostakovich.  But it's unlikely we'll get closer- at least in English- for some time to come. The book is published by Princeton University Press in the US and Faber and Faber in the UK.  ISBN No.: 0-691-02971-7. -Sol Siegel, Philadelphia PA