A Review of Simon Morisson's The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years

Simon Morison's book, The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years, is an enthralling, three-hundred-and-sixty-three-page chronicle of the tumultuous final years of the eminent Russian composer, Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953). Scholars with an interest in Prokofiev or the machinations of the Soviet musical society will find this book of great interest.Morrison begins his scholarly monograph by tackling one of Prokofiev's most perplexing decisions—choosing to abandon Paris, France and return to the USSR. This decision has bewildered musicologists even to this day. The focal point of the book is Prokofiev’s survival of the suffocating restrictions cast upon composers by the Soviet-Stalinist regime, both as a professional composer and as a human being. Morrison very carefully examines Prokofiev's professional struggles. He explores several of Prokofiev's works, both musically and historically, such as his operas Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegin, and The Cantata for the Twentieth Anniversary of October. He then expertly dissects the political reasons behind their political, and subsequent artistic failures.Morrison also makes some effort to examine Prokofiev's personal struggles throughout the course of the book. Through various letters, diaries and reports, we glean insight into the dynamic and restless life of the man Sergey Prokofiev