Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Moscow - Cheryomushki suite / The Bolt suite / The Gadfly - excerpts, Opp. 27a,97,105 (The Dance Album)

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Shostakovich is so well known for his fifteen large-scale symphonies that some of his other orchestral compositions, up until the last twenty years, have fallen by the wayside. Thankfully, however, Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly has helped to correct this oversight with his recordings of the composer's lesser known music. This recording, known as "The Dance Album", focuses on what passes for "dance" music in Shostakovich's oevure--though one mustn't take the term too literally when dealing with a composer who dealt with irony much of his life.

Featured here are the orchestral suites Shostakovich composed for the 1955 movie THE GADFLY, the 1931 ballet THE BOLT, and the 1959 operetta MOSCOW-CHERYOMUSHKI (the latter in a four-movement suite making its first-ever appearance on record). The dance rhythms are very vibrant and very Russian, something like accelerated Tchaikovsky, especially in MOSCOW-CHERYOMUSHKI; and the quirky "Variations" movement in THE BOLT. The GADFLY suite, in the meantime, contains the famous "Romance" that is by far one of Shostakovich's most popular single movements. Each of these works is supposedly very supportive of the Stalin doctrine, though again one can't look too closely at that, given Shostakovich's consistently troubled relation with that tyrant of Iron Curtain political correctness.

On his previous Shostakovich excursions into "Jazz" and "Film" music, Chailly utilized his Concertgebouw Orchestra. On this 1995 London recording, he leads the Philadelphia Orchestra, the world-class ensemble that was very well known for having given many Shostakovich's works their premieres on this side of the Iron Curtain under the tenures of both Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy. The orchestra's famed Philadelphia Sound, while it did change under the tenures of Riccardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch, nevertheless remains undiminished, and Chailly makes the most of the orchestra's capabilities.

To many, this is certainly going to be new music, and to others very unfamiliar. But it is very worthwhile to have a recording of a great composer's lesser-known works, especially when the performance is by one of the world's finest orchestras under one of the great conductors of our time.

This is one of the best versions of The Bolt and The Gadfly I've heard up until now.

The recording is clear and balanced. Track 13 "Contredanse" is very convincing. Erez Ofer's violin is always in control. There is a danger with this very romantic piece to get too shmotzi. Ofer's playing is just about right.

I have to say I almost did not buy this CD. The cover showing couples dancing to the Tango and the title "The Dance Album" is totally unsuitable and does not do this CD credit.

because it was attached to Stalinist themes and emerged during years of suffering and terror, Shostakovich's light music has always been overlaid, for me, with a layer of gray ash, bitter in the mouth. His humor, when encountered in the symphonies, can be biting and satiric. For films and ballets he resorted to kind of straight-faced boisterousness that walks the line between vulgarity and a parody of vulgarity. There's a good deal of heavy-handed buffoonery, and only rarely do we encounter melody beauty or real joy. In a word, Shostakovich's comic world is one where I either squirm or cringe. One could easily be in the vapid world of Kabalevsky or Khachaturyan.

Critics seem to love Chailly's "Dance album without any such reservations, both here at Amazon and n the press. All the externals are in place. Chailly is no joker in his own right, but he manages to clown around energetically. Decc'as sound is full and natural; the Philadelphia Orch. plays like what it is, a world-class ensemble with an American flair for rhythm. Every attempt is made to keep us inside the circus tent, and if you don't know the worker's paradise and heroic-proletariat-versus-decade-bourgeois plots of the early ballets, there's no reason to come away with a bad taste in one's mouth. Twenty-three short numbers makes for listening fatigue, yet each suite is enjoyable on its own, from the two ballets The Bolt (1931) and The Gadfly (1955), along with the more charming and frivolous operetta Moscow-Cheryomushki (1959). To be fair, only The Bolt is overshadowed by Stalin, and the later music from The Gadfly strikes me as prime Shostakovich in terms of musical substance and sincerity - I imagine the composer felt freed up by a story set in 19th-century Italy, reflected beautifully in the famous "Romance" for solo violin and orchestra.

I can't bring myself to sit down again and listen to this album at one go, but that isn't a criticism of its quality, just the prevailing mood. For performances of The Bolt and The Gadfly that deliver more impact, I reach for Soviet-era recordings, which are suitably rough and raw.

Wonderful music all round. Typical light Shostakovich in mixing sweet and fun mood with darker, more nostalgic feelings.

Superbly performed and recorded too.

I first got this in 1997 when it first came out. I have lots of great CDs of light Shostakovich works which overlap somewhat, but this is probably my favourite of them of all.

The Cheryomushki excerpts in particular are so wonderful.

The sound is really incredible here. The conductor, Chailly, as well as Concertgebouworkest does/do a great job here. Especially the Gadfly i can recommend for its ambiance and genious ways. You will receive much good music for a full price. This recording almost doe not present bad stuff. I think almost everythging is great. Ther are always recommendations though.

After hearing many of Shostakovich's more famous works, his symphonies, for example, I was not expecting what I found within this CD. These pieces are so much fun to listen to! They're light, energetic, amusing and full of wonderful and unforgetable melodies.

Riccardo Chailly is well known as one of the great orchestra builders of the current generation, and his work with the Philadelphia Orchestra on this recording is absolutely no exception. I can't remember the last time this particular orchestra sounded so amazing. The sound on this CD is second to none; simply blows you away. The music is fun to listen to and is just fantastic.

Out of the hundreds of classical recordings in my library, the three CDs of Shostakovich's music with Chailly are amongst my very favorites. Well worth your money!

The dynamics of this CD are indeed strange--either far too loud or barely audible, with very little in between, and it's really too bad for if you can keep fiddling with the gain control you can hear what was doubtless a fine performance by the orchestra. Was it the technicians' fault, or the conductor's? One can only guess, sadly.

I really liked this CD when I first bought it. GADFLY is one of Shosty's best film scores - very romantic, and one of the more stand-out pieces of writing amidst the 30+ scores he wrote to keep money in his pocket (many of which sound carbon copied from one another).

However, I later heard a most achingly beautiful piece of Shostakovich playing the Main Theme from GADFLY on the piano. When I heard it, I said, "That's not from GADFLY!" I put this disc on and listened all the way through to confirm. That's when I discovered that on the other versions of the GADFLY suite, the "INTRODUCTION - PRELUDE" track IS included. Folks, this is the BEST piece of the score! How could Chially leave it out!!

To be fair, Chially seems to include a few pieces here that aren't in the other recordings. I guess you really have to buy BOTH to get the full picture! And the performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra are top notch, as is the engineering. I just hate missing out on that one track!!