Dmitri Shostakovich at 120: How the icon drew on Bach, jazz, and cinema to create his own musical language

Dmitri Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906. Probably the most famous Soviet composer, he was forced to collaborate with the state even as he suffered under its campaign against “formalism.” For many, his life embodies the plight of an intellectual in the arts and humanities under totalitarian rule. But Shostakovich’s creative life was about far more than his fraught relationship with the authorities. At Meduza’s request, music critic Stepan Furin explores how the composer drew on classical music, jazz, and film.