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Sound of Utopia

Michel Krielaars
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A01=Michel Krielaars
Antony Beevor
artistic repression
Author_Michel Krielaars
biographies of composers
Category=DNBF
Category=DNBH
Category=JPHL
Category=NHD
censorship in USSR
composers in danger
composers Stalin
cultural oppression
dictatorship and creativity
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Gulag and musicians
music and politics
music biography
music under dictatorship
popular music Russia
Prokofiev and Shostakovich
repression music
Russian history
Russian music
Shostakovich
Simon Sebag Montefiore
socialist realism
Soviet artistic control
Soviet composers
Soviet cultural politics
Soviet era nonfiction
Soviet history
Soviet music
Soviet music history
Stalin and the arts
Stalinist terror
totalitarianism and art
twentieth century music history

Product details

  • ISBN 9781805330042
  • Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
  • Publication Date: 15 Jan 2026
  • Publisher: Pushkin Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description

'An illuminating account of how the Soviet system waged its war on musicians' Financial Times

When Stalin came to power, making music became a dangerous endeavour. Russian composers now had to create work that served the socialist state, and all artistic production was scrutinized for potential subversion.

The Sound of Utopia offers a vivid portrait of Soviet musicians and composers struggling to create art in this climate of terror. Some successfully toed the ideological line, diluting their work in the process; others ended up facing the Gulag or even death. With pace and verve, Michel Krielaars tells stories of intrigue, betrayal and stunning reversals of fortune, from the gay popular singer arrested at the height of his popularity to the blacklisted composer who wrote music on scrap paper in a forced labour camp.

Dramatic and immersive, this is a rich exploration of the absurdity and the richness of Soviet musical life - and a tribute to those who crafted sublime melodies under the darkest circumstances.
About Michel Krielaars
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.

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