Author Description

Shostakovich is one of the great conservatives in 20th-century music. In this study, Norman Kay examines particularly those works in which the struggle between artistic integrity and political necessity is apparent, and shows how, in spite of it all, Shostakovich has maintained a consistent and sincere viewpoint in his music. Norman Forber Kay (1929–2001) was a British composer and writer and educated at Bolton School, the Royal Manchester College of Music and the Royal College of Music. He composed the incidental music for three serials in the first season of Doctor Who, including the very first, An Unearthly Child, as well as The Keys of Marinus and The Sensorites. Besides this work, he also provided the music for many of the Out of the Unknown stories and productions such as Late Night Horror in 1968, as well as many other television and film productions. Kay also worked as a music critic for The Daily Telegraph. He was the first British musician to write a study on Shostakovich, a work that was well received.