Dmitri Shostakovich - The Dance Album (Riccardo Chailly)

Information

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich

• (01-04) Moscow-Cheryomushki, operetta suite (ed. & arr. Andrew Cornall), Op. 105
• (05-10) The Bolt, ballet suite, Op. 27a
• (11-23) The Gadfly, Op. 97

Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Date: 1995
Label: Decca
http://www.deccaclassics.com/en/cat/4525972

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

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 Moscow-Cheryomushki 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 Atovmyan. All the performances on the disc are superbly delivered with panache and high spirits and the recorded sound is excellent.

-- Michael Stewart, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
http://www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Moscow-Cheryomushki-Gadfly-excerpts/dp/B0000042F8

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dmitri Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Shostakovich's music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and (especially in his symphonies) by the post-Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich

***

Riccardo Chailly (born 20 February 1953 in Milan) is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music. Chailly was chief conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (1982-1988) and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1988-2004). He is currently chief conductor of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (since 2005). He recorded exclusively for Decca.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Chailly

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/riccardo-chailly-mn0000046209/biography

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment.

Enjoy!