Perhaps this was his finest film score although what is available is a suite of 42 minutes. There has never been an OST. The film can be watched online but it is in Russian without subtitles and the music you'll hear is somewhat different from the suite. Tom
Thanks for this. Gadfly isn't my favourite DDS film score, but the overture is majestic.
TG
Shostakovich was an incredible talent. Every track has a memorable melody. I can see that there is very little interest. I've added two audio clips. Have a listen as both are complete. http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/the-gadflyshostakovich/
have a listen. This is material not to be passed over. Shostakovich was a wonderful film composer tom
I've actually never heard the whole suite, but I do have a five minute Romance cue, which is very beautiful.
Speaking of his film scores have you heard The Unforgettable Year 1919? I have a suite from this and it sounds nothing like Shostakovich. More like Tchaikovsky.
Attention Shostakovich fans (all four or five of you). Recorded recently by Naxos for release in November 2017: world premiere of Shostakovich's complete score to THE GADFLY, plus two solo organ works excluded from the film. Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Bachchor Mainz perform with Mark Fitz-Gerald conducting.
Attention Shostakovich fans (all four or five of you).
I remember when I fell in love with the music of Shostakovich. It was probably 1989. My good friend was a student at Juilliard, and I was working in an office across the street from Lincoln Center. He could get tickets to the New York Philharmonic free when they were available, so he came over to my office and asked if I wanted to join him for a performance of Shostakovich's Symphony 11. I figured why not, but I'd had a long day of work. The conductor (I don't recall who he was anymore) introduced the piece by saying it was close to an hour long, and I thought "Oh god, I'm never going to last." And then I was absolutely riveted by it.
Which is my long way of saying I'll check out this "Gadfly" recording!
Attention Shostakovich fans (all four or five of you). Recorded recently by Naxos for release in November 2017: world premiere of Shostakovich's complete score to THE GADFLY, plus two solo organ works excluded from the film. Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Bachchor Mainz perform with Mark Fitz-Gerald conducting.
I just got a very inexpensive box of the complete symphonies, magnificently conducted by Rudolph Barshai in excellent sound. Around twenty-five bucks for the eleven CD set. Just great stuff.
And there's a new cycle on Deutsche Grammaphon that is wonderful, conducted by Andris Nelsons - so far he's done the fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth, with the rest coming slowly. One of the CDs also includes a really long batch of his Hamlet film score. Nelsons has a real feel for the music and it's beautifully recorded.
I have my good friend, TG, to thank for igniting my interest in the wonderful works of Shostakovich.
Ironically the first classic works' concert I attended - May 92 - included his Symphony #05, Op.47 but I can't say I appreciated it. I was due to hear it again live, same location, different orchestra/conductor, a few weeks ago but had to cry-off as my better half had a bad head-cold
But as TG provided me with a couple of DS recordings some years ago this gave me the impetus to try further of his works ... and both my wife and I have taken to this music (hence the intended concert visit in March). We did hear his Symphony #08, Op.65 back in Oct and that was a fabulous event.
My music library of his works now includes all of his symphonies, all of his string quartets, various other chamber music and many of his film scores (all re-recorded). If it's to your taste I can highly recommend a recent recording: Vladimir Ashkenazy & others: Piano Trios 1 & 2 + Viola Sonata (Decca 478 9382) - a really good listen.
DS's Romance from The Gadfly was (is?) well-known in the UK for its use as the theme to the TV series Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) and recordings featured on various compilation albums. The score is very enjoyable and highly-recommended but as I have two recordings I'm not sure I'll go for another ... not with so many other works on my want-list.
This may not be DS's best film score but is probably his most accessible, being full of melody.
My latest DS purchase is the Naxos re-recordings of The Fall of Berlin (Padeniye Berlina), Op.82 and The Unforgettable Year 1919 (Nezabyvaemyy 1919 god), Op.89a -suite. I've yet to play this second score, the first started very well but I admit my concentration tailed off (probably in line with my consumption of malt whisky ...)
I just got a very inexpensive box of the complete symphonies, magnificently conducted by Rudolph Barshai in excellent sound. Around twenty-five bucks for the eleven CD set. Just great stuff.
And there's a new cycle on Deutsche Grammaphon that is wonderful, conducted by Andris Nelsons - so far he's done the fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth, with the rest coming slowly. One of the CDs also includes a really long batch of his Hamlet film score. Nelsons has a real feel for the music and it's beautifully recorded.
But the box set of symphonies is really aces.
The Barshai set is really outstanding. But the Seventh Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein and the Chicago Symphony (coupled with the First) has not to be missed!
Attention Shostakovich fans (all four or five of you). Recorded recently by Naxos for release in November 2017: world premiere of Shostakovich's complete score to THE GADFLY, plus two solo organ works excluded from the film. Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Bachchor Mainz perform with Mark Fitz-Gerald conducting.
Many thanks for Your warning. The other reconstruction and recordings by Mark Fitz-Gerald are outstanding and highly recommended.
Fitz-Gerald and Frank Strobel, with his valuable recordings of Gottfried Huppertz (Metropolis, Die Nibelungen and Zur Chronik von Grieshuus) and Mascagni (Rapsodia Satanica) have produced outstanding performances of European film score masterpieces!
Attention Shostakovich fans (all four or five of you). Recorded recently by Naxos for release in November 2017: world premiere of Shostakovich's complete score to THE GADFLY, plus two solo organ works excluded from the film. Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Bachchor Mainz perform with Mark Fitz-Gerald conducting.
Very happy to see that series continuing, and will certainly be getting this (as one perhaps more into Shostokovich's "lighter" works than anyone else here, perhaps)
Still waiting on recordings for Encounter at The Elbe, Belinsky, and The First Echelon though (The last being the original source of "The Second Waltz")....or at least any that aren't long OOP/obscure if they exist
Very happy to see that series continuing, and will certainly be getting this (as one perhaps more into Shostokovich's "lighter" works than anyone else here, perhaps)
Out of interest, are you familiar with the 24 preludes and fugues? Some of those might suit you very well, particularly the fugue number seven in A major. Look it up on YouTube - you'll see what the piano was invented for...
As a huge fan of Shostakovich, I'm looking forward to this complete score. It's definitely a terrific work of this composer though I'm still partial to his 6th, 10th and 12th Symphonies. The 12th for me is him at his most cinematic. The Bernard Haitink led reading still is the greatest interpretation I've heard- crisp, dramatic and beautifully done.
As a huge fan of Shostakovich, I'm looking forward to this complete score. It's definitely a terrific work of this composer though I'm still partial to his 6th, 10th and 12th Symphonies. The 12th for me is him at his most cinematic. The Bernard Haitink led reading still is the greatest interpretation I've heard- crisp, dramatic and beautifully done.
I favour 3-8 and 10-12. It's hard to narrow it down from there but 4 and 5 head the list. I love the 12th, which is often disparaged by critics as being shallow and, yes, cinematic. It commences with a killer melody in the lower registers of the orchestra and closes with a series of shattering climaxes that in the right hands is truly stunning. The first recording of this that I heard was by the Dresdener Staatskapelle which gave me a taste for a slightly brassy version.
Shostakovich actually composed more film scores than symphonic works, but it doesn't deter that he was a fine composer, with his music brimming with irony and wit.
