Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Michel Krielaars is a writer and a journalist specialising in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, who currently writes for the Dutch daily newspaper NRC. He studied history and Russian at the University of Amsterdam and was a correspondent in Russia between 2007 and 2012. Krielaars has written novels, short-story collections and several books about Russia, including Through Chekov's Glasses and Travels through Russia, which won the Bob den Uyl Prize. He lives in Amsterdam.Revelatory... poignant
Guardian
Highly readable... Transport[s] us into the heart of the Soviet machine through a rich mix of anecdotal and historical material... An illuminating account of how the Soviet system waged its war on musicians
FT
Ten cradle-to-grave pen-portraits of Stalin's musicians, told with bantering brio... Krielaars has done an admirable job rescuing his lesser-known subjects from obscurity
The Times
There are stories here to freeze the veins, but also to stir the heart, and even a little gallows humour... A moving threnody to musicians who truly suffered for their art, many of them effaced from the record like notes struck on a dummy keyboard
Observer
Infuses a bleak subject with verve, inspiring admiration for musicians so dedicated to their art that they persevered inside the grind of what the writer and chronicler of atrocity Vasily Grossman called a "vast system of mechanized enthusiasm"
Irish Times
The stories Krielaars tells, in chattily accessible prose, are fascinating
Telegraph
Vivid, thoughtful... Engagingly written
Spectator
Compelling and accessible... A fascinating portrait of the musicians' resilience and defiance of oppression
New Statesman
A story of loss and terror, but also resilience and the consolation of music
Herald
Krielaars testifies to a deep knowledge of Russia. Told with the voice of a great master
- Pieter Waterdrinker, author of 'The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street',
Michel Krielaars unravels a staggering piece of history
De Morgen
Ten interesting portraits, not only of celebrities like Sergei Prokofiev, but also lesser-known figures who seldom receive attention in the Western world
NRC
There was no room for heroism under Stalin, Michel Krielaars convincingly shows
de Volkskrant
It's beautiful how Krielaars manages to keep something sparkling through Stalin's cold winter. Something like song
Trouw
Vivid... Krielaars's most striking achievement is to introduce us to an array of forgotten composers, conductors, intsrumentalists [and] singers
The Critic
Fascinating... The courage of these artists was quite extraordinary and Krielaars paints the picture of their place in Soviet life with drama and great compassion
Big Issue