Likely to become an essential source for pianists wishing to play Shostakovich's work as well as for listeners, this is the first book-length study in English of Shostakovich's largest work for piano, the "Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues, Opus 87". Mark Mazullo describes the cultural contexts in which Shostakovich composed, relates the cycle to numerous piano works (by Bach, Hindemith, and others), and offers individual commentaries on each of the Preludes and Fugues. There is a final chapter that critically examines the cycle's performance history.

Mark Mazullo is Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Department at Macalester College.

"Mazullo’s labour of love… is an unusually broad, liberal and, indeed, inspiring piece of work that deserves to be acquired by all libraries with music collections." —Arnold McMillin, Slavonic & East European Review