Today marks the centenary of the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich, the Russian composer described by many critics as the greatest of the twentieth century. This report from Lawrence Pollard:

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By the time of his death in 1975 he was seen as a solid Soviet artist, but a few years later his reputation was turned on its head by the publication of a highly controversial account of his life called "Testimony". This claimed that Shostakovich secretly hated Stalin and the Soviet system, and that his works held hidden dissident meanings. Critics in the West seized on this new image of an anticommunist Shostakovich, but others pointed out how hard it is to interpret private motives under a climate of fear.

Certainly Shostakovich was lucky to work in a wordless abstract medium, where interpretation is strongly subjective. But it does appears at least some of his original audience did find oppositional power in his work, but as a member of the party and the Supreme Soviet Shostakovich also allowed his name to be put on denunciations of dissidents. Certainly no composer has undergone so radical a reevaluation. But what can't be argued is that his 15 symphonies and smaller scale chamber music make him a musical giant of his time, whatever the political meanings we find in his art.

Lawrence Pollard, BBC

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scored a great success
was very popular and successful

viciously attacked
seriously criticised

liable
here, likely

propaganda
an organised programme of publicity and selected information used to spread a certain practice or theory (usually has a negative connotation)

turned on its head
changed to the opposite

controversial account
narration or description that is disputed or causing disagreement

dissident
disagreeing with the government

seized on
used

a wordless abstract medium
here, music, i.e. art with no words or images, nothing concrete

denunciations
public statements in which you criticize someone or something

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