Notes of a Moscow pianist /

Paperno (DePaul Univ.) has preserved a vivid picture of student life in the Central School of Music and the Moscow Conservatory during the middle years of the 20th century. Part of this world himself, Paperno shares insights into both the musical abilities and the human frailties of many of the Russian pianists of the century. The names of two great legendary conservatory teachers, Neuhaus and Goldenweiser (his own teacher), recur throughout the book. Paperno communicates the sense of family that existed between students and teachers in Moscow, along with the highs and lows of competitions, the problems of stage fright, and the political ups and downs. The author tells how the conservatory students gradually became aware that "something shameful was happening" when the music of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Miaskovsky, and Khachaturian was pronounced "formalist" and inimical to the people, and was banned. The author closes the book with a summary of his years of teaching in America, briefly comparing Russian and US music education. Paperno's fellow Moscow music students--pianist Ashkenazy and cellist Rostropovich--have written the foreword and afterword to this fine memoir. This book, along with Beyond Frontiers, by Jasper Parrott and Vladimir Ashkenazy (CH, May'85), provides unique documentation of life for musicians behind the Iron Curtain. Notes and discography, but no bibliography due to the autobiographical nature of the book. All levels. R. Pitts; McLennan Community College