S1E7 - Shostakovich and Mental Health: A Conversation with Stephen Johnson

Episode Notes

In this episode of Music & Medicine, Žak Ozmo is in conversation with Stephen Johnson, a British author, BBC music broadcaster, and composer.  His recent book, How Shostakovich Changed My Mind, won the prestigious 2021 Rubery Book Award.

Johnson explores the power of Shostakovich’s music during Stalin’s reign of terror, and talks about the extraordinary healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness.  He further reflects on his own experience, where he believes Shostakovich’s music helped him survive the trials and assaults of bipolar disorder.

How is it that music that reflects pain, fear and desolation can help sufferers find – if not a way out, then a way to bear these feelings and ultimately rediscover pleasure in existence? Johnson draws on interviews with the members of the orchestra who performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony during the siege of Leningrad, during which almost a third of the population starved to death.