How Shostakovich Changed My Mind

A powerful look at the extraordinary healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness, including author Stephen Johnson's struggle with bipolar disorder.

BBC music broadcaster Stephen Johnson explores the power of Shostakovich’s music during Stalin’s reign of terror, and writes of the extraordinary healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness. Johnson looks at neurological, psychotherapeutic and philosophical findings, and reflects on his own experience, where he believes Shostakovich’s music helped him survive the trials and assaults of bipolar disorder.

There is no escapism, no false consolation in Shostakovich’s greatest music: this is some of the darkest, saddest, at times bitterest music ever composed. So why do so many feel grateful to Shostakovich for having created it—not just Russians, but westerners like Stephen Johnson, brought up in a very different, far safer kind of society? The book includes interviews with the members of the orchestra who performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony during the siege of that city.

Info autore

Stephen Johnson has taken part in several hundred radio programs and documentaries, including Radio 3's weekly series Discovering Music. He is also a presenter on the Classic Arts podcast series Archive Classics. Johnson has made numerous appearances on TV, contributing as a guest on BBC4's coverage of The Proms, ITV's The South Bank Show, and BBC1's The One Show. He is the author of several books, including The Eighth: Mahler and the World in 1910 and the Notting Hill Editions title How Shostakovich Changed My Mind.

Riassunto

BBC broadcaster Stephen Johnson explores how Shostakovich's music took shape under Stalin's reign of terror. Johnson writes of the healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness and tells of how Shostakovich's music lent him unexpected strength in his struggle against bipolar disorder.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Stephen Johnson
• Editore: Notting Hill Editions
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 14.05.2019
• EAN: 9781910749456
• ISBN: 978-1-910749-45-6
• Pagine: 172
• Dimensioni: 120 mm x 190 mm x 17 mm
• Peso: 238 g
• Categorie: Narrativa > Romanzi > Epistole, diari; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Musica > Tematiche generali, enciclopedie; Mindfulness, SELF-HELP / General, Russia, Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups, MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, Memoirs, SELF-HELP / Mood Disorders / Bipolar Disorder, PSYCHOLOGY / Psychopathology / Bipolar Disorder, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Abnormal psychology, Creative therapy (eg art, music, drama), Literary essays, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, Composers and songwriters, 20th Century & Contemporary Classical Music, Classical style, Art music, orchestral and formal music, 20th Century History