Playing with Fire: The Story of Maria Yudina, Pianist in Stalin's Russia

357 Pages·2022·24.04 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Wilson

PLAYING WITH FIRE
‘Presents an absorbing picture of a tragic period of Russian history. At its
centre is the towering figure of Maria Yudina, a remarkable pianist and one
of the most influential personalities of Soviet cultural life. A riveting read.’
Boris Berman, Head of Piano, Yale University School of Music
‘The daughter of the British ambassador to the USSR and herself an ambas-
sador for Russian music and musical culture, Elizabeth Wilson incorporates
in her writing her own experience of living in Soviet Russia, studying at the
Moscow Conservatory and encountering several generations of Russian
musicians. It is surprising that such a book had not been written earlier; it is
not surprising that it was eventually written by Wilson.’
Olga Manulkina, Saint Petersburg State University
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PLAYI N G
WITH FI R E
The Story of
Maria Yudina,
Pianist in
Stalin’s Russia
ELIZABETH WILSON
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
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Copyright © 2022 Elizabeth Wilson
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
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appear in this book. Any discrepancies or omissions will be rectified in future editions.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021948939
e-ISBN 978-0-300-26568-2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Daniel and to Radu, whose superlative music-making has
enriched my life for over half a century
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CONTENTS
List of Plates viii
Acronyms x
Transliteration xiv
Introduction 1
1 Childhood and Youth: Nevel’, Petrograd 6
2 1919–1927: Baptism, University Studies, 29
Philosophical Circles
3 1921–1927: Graduation and Start of a Musical Career 56
4 1928–1933: Leningrad–Moscow via Tbilisi 85
5 1933–1936: Moscow 113
6 1936–1941: The Moscow Conservatoire and 140
Musical Projects
7 1941–1945: War and its Aftermath 166
8 1945–1953: The Anti-Formalist and 191
Anti-Cosmopolitan Campaigns
9 1953–1960: The Thaw Years 218
10 1960–1970: The Final Decade 250
Endnotes 283
Appendix 300
Bibliography 306
Selected Discography 315
Acknowledgements 320
Index 324
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PLATES
1. Maria Yudina as newly appointed professor of Petrograd Conservatoire,
1922. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
2. Maria’s father, Veniamin Gavrilovich Yudin. Collection of Yakov
Nazarov.
3. Maria’s mother, Raisa Yakovlevna Yudina. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
4. Anna Yesipova. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
5. Bakhtin’s circle recreated in Leningrad, c.1924–6. Collection of Yakov
Nazarov.
6. Yudina at piano, late 1920s/early 1930s. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
7. Detail from The House Cut Open by Alisa Poret and Tatiana Glebova.
Collection of Yaroslav Arts Museum.
8. Yudina in besieged Leningrad, summer 1943. Collection of Yakov
Nazarov.
9. Concert in wartime Moscow with conductor Nikolai Anosov at the
Grand Hall of the Conservatoire, 8 June 1943. Collection of Yakov
Nazarov.
10. Poster for Yudina’s recital at the Grand Hall of the Philharmonia in
besieged Leningrad, 3 October 1943. From collection of Musical Library
of St Petersburg Academic Shostakovich Philharmonia.
11. Pencil drawing of Maria Yudina by Vladimir Favorsky, January 1949.
12. Yudina with Igor Stravinsky at the opening of an exhibition in his
honour at the Leningrad House of Composers, 6 October 1962.
Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
13. Stravinsky receiving applause at the Grand Hall of the Moscow
Conservatoire, September 1962. Photo taken by Khrennikov’s wife,
Klara Vaks. In archival collection of RNMM (Glinka Museum) Moscow.
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PLATES
Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture Russian National
Museum of Music (без запятой).
14. Tikhon Khrennikov and Maria Yudina, autumn 1962. Photo taken by
Khrennikov’s wife, Klara Vaks. In archival collection of RNMM (Glinka
Museum) Moscow. Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture
Russian National Museum of Music (без запятой).
15. Yudina’s desk-cum-dining table at her flat on Rostovskaya Embankment,
1967. Photo taken by Yakov Nazarov. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
16. Yudina reading from the Gospel at Pasternak’s grave on the 10th anni-
versary of his death, 30 May 1970. Collection of Yakov Nazarov.
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