Shostakovich: Cheryomushki, The Bolt, The Gadfly (The Dance Album)

Shostakovich (1906-1975) had two distinct musical personalities: the grim alchemist of the string quartets and symphonies and the happy Soviet of his dance and film scores. These works are of the latter Shostakovich--but don't let that put you off. There is a great deal of good music here, and if some of it is ultimately trivial, who cares? Much of the frenetic dance rhythms come from the 1920s and 1930s era of Stalinist Modernism: happy workers, happy factories, happy collectives. It's still fun (and remember, even Prokofiev had it). This is an excellent recording all the way around. --Paul Cook Amazon.com

Chailly Blows Us Away, Again!

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! September 20, 2007

Great music, mediocre recording

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. August 14, 2007

Disappointed to find out the best piece from GADFLY is not on this disc!!

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!! August 5, 2006

Sheer delight

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. April 13, 2006

very very good and entertaining recording great sound

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. November 24, 2005

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