The Conductor

The Conductor brings to life the siege of Leningrad, and the difficulties faced by those who remained behind once the city was surrounded and under attack from Hitler’s army. Told from the perspectives of Dmitri Shostkovich, Karl Eliasberg and Nikolai Nikolayev Quigley evokes three strong personalities and their shared passion for music against a backdrop of harsh deprivation and uncertainty.

The first half of the book focuses on Shostakovich, Russia’s most celebrated composer of the time, as he battles to write the score for his Leningrad Symphony while doing fire watch duty and digging trenches to aid in the defence of his beloved city, as his scared family slowly starve around him.

With Shostakovich and his family eventually show more forced to evacuate it falls to Eliasberg, conductor of the second rate Radio Orchestra, to lead the performance of the completed symphony which the Russians hope will lift the spirits of the nation. With a limited number of musicians still alive, but so weak they cannot play their instruments properly, Eliasberg struggles to produce the performance demanded of him by the Russian authorities.

Contrasted with the genius Shostakovich and Eliasberg, who for one performance rises above his own mediocre talents and achieves something great, is Nikolai, a musician tortured by the uncertainty of his daughter's fate after she is evacuated from the city with hundreds of other children. While we can see the almost unendurable hardship faced by Shostakovich and particularly Eliasberg, it is Nikolai who brings a more human side to the story.

I have no knowledge of classical music, and only a small understanding of Russia’s role in WWII, but Quigley transports her readers to another time and place completely.

The Conductor has a subtle power which comes from Quigley’s understated style, and the characters, while flawed and human, are compelling. This is a gripping read, and one I’d highly recommend. show less

Quigley blends fact with fiction to create a wonderful story set in 1941 Leningrad. Shostakovich writes his symphony amid the hardship of the Leningrad siege. We also follow the fortunes of shy, introspective, Karl Eliasberg, conductor of the second-rate Radio Orchestra and Nikolai Nikolayev, violinist and friend of Shostokovich, who suffers from the unknown fate of his talented daughter, one of thousands of children evacuated from the city.
I found this to be a riveting story and could hardly put the book down at times. Quigley manages to maintain a narrative drive through the force of Shostakovich's creative genius and the ongoing hardship of the siege as the city stumbles towards that harsh winter without food supplies. She has show more created a remarkable fictional personality for Eliasberg, the conductor who was charged to bring the symphony to life for its premiere in Leningrad in August 1942.

Bonus feature: the book comes with a Naxos CD of the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra recording of the Leningrad symphony tucked into the back flap. I'm listening to it as I type and reliving the trials and tribulations of Shostakovich and also Eliasberg as both struggled to bring the music to life. show less

This novel concerns the performing by conductor Karl Eliasberg of composer Dmitri Shostakovich's famous Seventh or Leningrad symphony. This composition was designed as a morale booster during the darkest days of the terrible siege of Leningrad in 1941-42, when the city was cut off by the advancing Nazi armies, and devastated by starvation, albeit that total collapse was averted over the horrific winter of that year by some supplies being able to reach the city over the frozen Lake Ladoga.

The author describes well the breaking down of Leningrad society as preparations for invasion and then for encirclement and slow strangulation of the city exert their baleful effect on the musical fraternity and their loved ones. In the face of the show more increasing cold, darkness and starvation as rations are cut again and again, they continue in their endeavours to rehearse this piece, including after Shostakovich and his family are evacuated to the relative safety of the town of Kuibyshev in southern Russia. Many orchestra members die of starvation or cold but the survivors carry on. This was an act of enormous moral courage, though it might also be seen by some as almost robotic indifference to the fate of themselves as individuals caught between the totalitarian behemoths of communism and Nazism. Orchestra member Nikolai Nikolayev's nine year old daughter Sonya was probably my favourite character and I was so pleased she survived. In general I felt there was a particular strength and nobility in the leading female characters such as the two Ninas, the composer's wife and the conductor's (future) wife. I was slightly surprised to see this was apparently the best selling work of adult fiction in New Zealand (the author's home country) in 2011. show less

I must confess that I have never particularly enjoyed works of 'faction' - until now.

Karl Eliasberg is to conduct Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony during surely one of the cruellest episodes known to man - the siege of Leningrad. On 9 August 1942, with loudspeakers broadcasting the performance throughout the city as well as to the German forces in a move of psychological warfare, Eliasberg and his scratch orchestra of starving, exhausted, miliatrary-rejects, kept going with additional food rations, play as though their lives depend on it.

Sarah Quiley's book describes the lead up to this point during a period of cold and chaos. Shostakovich struggles to compose, what with the fire-watching duties and over-crowded living conditions. show more Eliasberg wrestles with his inferiority complex and tries to cope with his aged mother. Other personalities with their stories move in and out of the narrative.

This is a seriously good book - well-researched, well-written and a gripping, intelligent read. Excellent! show less

A stunning and beautifully written novel, which delves deep into the heart of Leningrad during what must have been their darkest period - the siege. This book is stark and beautiful, intermingling the tales of the different characters and bringing forth the bitter experience they all shared. It is evocative, bittersweet and overall a fantastic read. My only complaint is that the ending seemed rather abrupt and I did not want to lead the tale go.

I read this at a very busy time in my life, the arrival of a first grandson. Nonetheless, I found it an easy tale to return too.
The author has done a fine job of creating the hardships experienced by a group of people during the siege in Leningrad, in1941. The main character, Karl Eliasberg, a shy, taciturn conductor of the second-rate radio orchestra, is commissioned to pull a group of musicians together to perforn Shostokovich's Leningrad Symphony to uplift and inspire the poor tormented souls still surviving the siege. It is a difficult task due to the near starvation of most musicians. We also follow the misfortunes of violinist, Nikolai Nikolayev, as he attempts to locate his daughter who went missing when children were transported show more out of the besieged city.
The author has brought together a group of flawed but likeable characters. I have not read any previous books by this author, but will seek some out.
An added bonus to the book is the inclusion of Shostokovich's Leningrad Symphony on CD. show less

An evocative account of the siege of Leningrad and the composition of Shostakovitch's symphony, and most successful at evoking the privations of hunger and winter. It didn't quite ring true for me though; partly the odd mixture of anachronism and Russianesque language, partly characters disappearing from the stage (probably from the dictates of history).