cover image Leningrad: Siege and Symphony

Leningrad: Siege and Symphony

Brian Moynahan. Atlantic Monthly, $30 (576p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2316-9

Veteran international journalist Moynahan (Claws of the Bear) artfully weaves four interrelated stories set in the great Russian metropolis from 1934 to 1942: the start and continuation of Stalin’s purges; the siege of the city by German forces during WWII; the dire huger and cold within the city; and the near-miraculous and triumphant Russian premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (“the Leningrad”) in August 1942, with German guns only seven miles away. Moynahan reveals the extent to which Stalin decimated his army’s leadership up to and after the June 1941 German invasion and how the purges encompassed a growing number of civilians accused of defeatism. Meanwhile, during the terrible winter of 1942, desperate citizens resorted to cannibalism. Discussing the symphony’s performance, Moynahan notes that most of the musicians “were substitutions due to illness and death,” and yet, he notes, if the Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich’s masterwork was “perhaps the most magnificent... moment ever to be found in music,” the music “hid the camps and interrogation chambers.” Moynahan occasionally loses steam, but his vivid political, military, and artistic vignettes and the deft way he links them make this an exceptional, memorable work. Maps. Agent: Rachel Mills, Peters Fraser & Dunlop (U.K.). (Oct.)