An invaluable overview of the life and art of Mariya Yudina, one of the 20th century's most original performers, better known by reputation than by actual acquaintance with her work. For many, Yudina might be best remembered for her appearance in Solomon Volkov’s Shostakovichian ventriloquist act Testimony, where she is reduced to a caricature. Wilson restores the dignity that was Yudina's personal credo, rendering her into a three-dimensional figure hitherto unknown in the English language. The author’s profound sympathy for her subject is charismatic enough to suspend the reader’s impatience with her earthbound prose and dispel the whiff of pedanticism that occasionally creeps in. (Does the target audience for this biography of a relatively obscure Russian pianist really need an explanation of who “The Mighty Handful” were?) Shortcomings notwithstanding, this book is an essential read for anybody interested in Russian music, as well as the cultural life and history of the Soviet Union.