The third and final volume of Prokofiev's Diaries covers the years 1924 to 1933 when he was living in Paris. Intimate accounts of the successes and disappointments of a great creative artist at the heart of the European arts world between the two world wars jostle with witty and trenchant commentaries on the personalities who made up this world. The Diaries document the complex emotional inner world of a Russian exile uncomfortably aware of the nature of life in Stalin's Russia yet increasingly persuaded that his creative gifts would never achieve full maturity separated from the culture, people and land of his birthplace. Since even Prokofiev knew that the USSR was hardly the place to commit inner reflections to paper, the Diaries come to an end after June 1933 although it would be another three years before he, together with his wife and children, finally exchanged the free if materially uncertain life of a cosmopolitan Parisian celebrity for Soviet citizenship and the credo of Socialist Realism within which the regime struggled to strait-jacket its artists.

Volume Three continues the kaleidoscopic impressions and the stylish language - Prokofiev was almost as gifted and idiosyncratic a writer as a composer - of its predecessors.

Sergey Prokofiev Diaries 1924-1933: Prodigal Son is the final volume in the critically-acclaimed Prokofiev Diaries.

About the Author
Anthony Phillips learnt Russian in the "Secret Classrooms" of National Service in the 1950s and later at Oxford. The language continued to play an important part during his later career in music administration, during which he became general manager of London's Royal Festival Hall. Story of a Friendship, his translation of Shostakovich's letters to Isaak Glikman, was published by Faber in 2000, and Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters (with Rosamund Bartlett) by Penguin Classics in 2004.

Reviews
'The third and final instalment of Prokofiev's diaries . . . in AnthonyPhillips's excellently clear translation . . . These diaries are addictive andthe effect of not seeing the life through his eyes anymore is a wrench . . . Astupendous work.' - Alexander Waugh, Literary Review

'Should appeal well beyond Prokofiev's immediate fan base to readers intriguedby the siren song of Christian Science and / or sympatheticoutsider's take on the Diaghilev set.' - David Gutman, Gramphone




Book Information
ISBN 9780571380909
Author Sergei Prokofiev
Format Paperback
Page Count 1160
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 1490g
Dimensions(mm) 233mm * 154mm * 55mm