Shostakovich - The Gadfly (Original Score)

The Guardian 60

Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Fitz-Gerald
(Naxos)

This is a real novelty, celebrating Shostakovich’s life-long devotion to writing film music. His orchestral concert work The Gadfly Suite, Op 97a, from his score of the 1955 film, was assembled by fellow Soviet composer Levon Atovmyan. Much was cut and forgotten. The full, eclectic soundtrack has now been reconstructed, with a fantastic display of serious scholarship, passion and practical musicianship by Mark Fitz-Gerald: all 29 sections, complete with a snatch of Bach’s B minor Mass, either from Shostakovich’s original manuscript or taken down by ear from the film (which sold more than 39m tickets and was based on the novel by Ethel Voynich). A lively curiosity, to be sure.