Shostakovich ·The Dance Album
Shostakovich · The Dance Album · The Philadelphia Orchestra · Riccardo Chailly
APE+CUE 321 MB | MP3 HQ 127 MB | EAC | No Log | Scans | 1996
Shostakovich ·The Dance Album
Having explored the various jazz elements of Shostakovich's output in "The Jazz Album" (Decca, 3/93), Riccardo Chailly and the Philadelphia Orchestra now bring us "The Dance Album". Interestingly only one of the items on this disc (The Bolt) is actually derived from music conceived specifically for dance, though what the disc reveals is that Shostakovich's fondness for dance forms frequently found expression in his other theatrical/film projects.
The world premiere recording of a suite of four episodes from the 1959 operetta MoscowCheryomushki will be of particular interest to Shostakovich devotees. Despite the somewhat mundane plot involving various couples trying to acquire apartments on a new housing estate which corrupt bureaucrats have earmarked for themselves, the score produces some surprisingly attractive and entertaining numbers, most notably perhaps the invigorating "A spin through Moscow" and the "Waltz". For the suite from the ballet The Bolt, Chailly brings us the less frequently heard 1934 version in which the composer dropped two of the eight numbers and changed some of the titles in order to deflect from the story-line of the ballet. Lots of parody and plenty of Shostakovich with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek is what we get, and if this side of the composer's output appeals then you will certainly enjoy Chailly's and his players' spirited and colourfully buoyant performances of this energetic score.
Less familiar light is also shed on the music from the film The Gadfly which is heard here in a version which brings together 13 of the score's episodes and preserves Shostakovich's original orchestration, as opposed to the suite prepared and re-orchestrated by Levin Atovinyan. All the performances on the disc are superbly delivered with panache and high spirits and the recorded sound is excellent. MS. December 1996, Page 84, Gramophone
CD
Moscow-Cheryomushki
Suite from the operetta, op.105
The Bolt
Suite from the ballet, op.27a
The Gadfly
Excerpts from the fim music, op.97
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