Sergei Prokofiev by Christina Guillaumier. Critical Lives Series. London: Reaktion Books, 2024. 176 pp. £12.99 (paper). ISBN 978‐1‐78914‐951‐7

Admirers of Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891–1953) music have enjoyed a marked increase in writings about the composer and his music. This is thanks in part to access to archival resources granted by the Serge Prokofiev Archive at Columbia University as well as the release of documents in Russian archives that coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death. In response to these new materials, the literature about Prokofiev’s life and music, both scholarly and nonscholarly alike, has grown tremendously during the past two decades. In many ways, Prokofiev is now receiving the same attention previously afforded to fellow Russian composers Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975). Christina Guillaumier’s recent biography for the Critical Lives series of Reaktion Books is the newest contribution to the literature concerning Prokofiev. Intended primarily for a general readership, the monograph consists of an introduction and seven chapters arranged chronologically that explore Prokofiev’s life from his roots in rural Ukraine and his education in St. Petersburg through his years abroad oscillating between Europe and the United States before repatriating to the Soviet Union. Throughout the text, Guillaumier draws upon her previous scholarly work on Prokofiev, Rethinking Prokofiev (2020), a collection of essays that she edited alongside Rita McAllister, and her examination of the composer’s operatic output, The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev (2020). From the outset, the author shares that her goal is “to bring a cohesive approach to the constituent parts of [Prokofiev’s] splintered life and to shed some light on events behind the scenes” (p. 7). To accomplish this task, Guillaumier abandons the exhaustive chronicling of biographical detail in favor of exploring why and how the composer produced the musical works he did. What emerges is a fresh narrative of Prokofiev’s musical artistry and life not overshadowed by his geopolitical decision-making, but rather an account of how he responded to a multitude of artistic challenges. One of Guillaumier’s strengths is that she offers a new narrative surrounding Prokofiev’s ever-evolving sense of Russian identity. Throughout the text, she asserts that Prokofiev maintained his identity as a Russian throughout his life, never regarding of himself an emigre, exile, or even Soviet. Moreover, the composer’s music was shaped by his cultural upbringing, literary influences, and the shifting geopolitical contexts in which he lived. Guillaumier emphasizes that Prokofiev’s connection to Russia was not merely nationalistic or stylistic, but rather deeply rooted in his personal relationships and intellectual engagement with Russian literature and music; he maintained correspondence with friends while abroad, requested new books and music scores, and sought news from home even while living outside the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Guillaumier emphasizes that Prokofiev’s concept of a “Russian sound” was far more organic and subtle than envisioned by Sergei Diaghilev. She asserts that “at no point did he consciously create a break in his aesthetic thinking from his Russian forebearers or from his musical preferences and traditions….The imprint of his musical heritage is unmistakable and runs through his entire oeuvre, regardless of the period he was writing in” (p. 9). Likewise, the author’s assessment encourages readers to consider how Prokofiev’s Russian identity was not static, but rather a dynamic quality of his musical output, especially in the context of his return to the Soviet Union. She goes on to state that “the concept of a Russian element in his music is no more or less important than other strands that contribute to his uniqueness as a composer, a singularity that is characterized by his uncompromising and distinctive approach to musical aesthetics” (p. 14). Ultimately, Guillaumier reframes Prokofiev’s Russian identity as a multifaceted trait that defines his distinctive compositional voice. In less than 200 pages, Guillaumier offers readers a concise, yet noteworthy account of Sergei Prokofiev’s life and works. However, it is the biography’s brevity that elucidates its limitations. As with other texts in the Reaktion Books series, Sergei Prokofiev lacks an index that makes searching for specific information unnecessarily cumbersome; one must have a preexisting familiarity of the composer’s life to know where to look for the author’s discussion of specific works or life events. Additionally, the limited space necessitates the omission of biographical detail found in other biographies; readers hoping for in-depth discussion of the composer’s musical output, or rich engagement with the all-too-familiar political dimensions of Prokofiev’s career are likely to be disappointed. Notwithstanding, Guillaumier’s prose is elegant and satisfying to read, and she should be applauded for contributing such a fresh and humanizing portrait of a composer frequently overshadowed by political narratives.