Shostakovich: Music for Theatre

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Catalogue No: NFPMA9905
Label: Northern Flowers
Series: St. Petersburg Musical Archive
Length: 40 minutes

Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days

Shostakovich: Gamlet (Hamlet), Op. 32a

Work length6:36

$3.00

$3.90

St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon"
Edward Serov

I. Introduction and Night Watch

Track length2:38

$1.00

$1.30

III. A Flourish and Dance Music

Track length2:14

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Chase

Track length1:44

$1.00

$1.30

Shostakovich: Gamlet (Hamlet), Op. 32a, V. Actor's Pantomime

Work length1:41

$1.00

$1.30

St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon"
Edward Serov

Shostakovich: Gamlet (Hamlet), Op. 32a

Work length7:04

$4.00

$5.20

St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon"
Edward Serov

IX. Ophelia's Song

Track length1:43

$1.00

$1.30

X. Lullaby

Track length1:23

$1.00

$1.30

XI. Requiem

Track length1:46

$1.00

$1.30

XIII. Fortinbras's March

Track length2:12

$1.00

$1.30

Shostakovich: Chelovecheskaya komediya, Op. 37

Work length12:04

$5.00

$6.50

St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon"
Edward Serov

View of Paris (the Human Comedy)

Track length2:29

$1.00

$1.30

Police Office (the Human Comedy)

Track length1:25

$1.00

$1.30

Gavotte (the Human Comedy)

Track length2:15

$1.00

$1.30

Bank of the Seine (the Human Comedy)

Track length3:46

$1.00

$1.30

March (the Human Comedy)

Track length2:09

$1.00

$1.30

Shostakovich: King Lear - incidental music Op. 58a

Work length12:55

$7.00

$9.10

Nina Romanova, St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon" and Edward Serov, Nina Romanova
St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, "Canon"
Edward Serov

Return from the Chase

Track length0:48

$1.00

$1.30

At the Hut

Track length2:01

$1.00

$1.30

In Regan's Castle

Track length1:14

$1.00

$1.30

The Camp

Track length1:20

$1.00

$1.30

March

Track length1:33

$1.00

$1.30

Trumpets

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.30

Cordelia's Ballad

Track length4:41

$1.00

$1.30

About
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About

Almost all the works written by Dmitry Shostakovich for theatre were created during the first part of his artistic career. The 30s were especially productive in this respect. The start of Shostakovich’s work in this field was marked by his cooperation with the prominent Soviet director V. Meyerhold (“The Bug” by Mayakovsky, 1929). An important milestone in the composer’s work was the score created by him for Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" on the Vakhtangov Theatre stage, produced and designed by N. Akimov (1932).

Brought out two years ago in the same Vakhtangov Theatre “Human Comedy” after H. Balzas turned out a failure. But again was stressed Shostakovich’s rare ability to reproduce, with laconic devices of incidental music, the signs of the time and place no matter if it was skilfully stylised atmosphere of Pans, or sharply delineated character scenes, or dramatically intense culmination. Unfortunately, together with the performance which soon was taken off the billboards, Shostakovich’s music was forgotten, with the exception of several numbers forming the Third Ballet Suite (1952).

Shostakovich’s last work for theatre was music for “King Lear” by Shakespeare, produced by G. Kozintsev at the Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theatre of Leningrad in the spring of 1941. In his book “The Deep Screen” G. Kozintsev remembered many years ago: “The performance was brought out on the eve of the Second world War. During the blockade of Leningrad the theatre revived the performance...The stage resembled a screen hung in a dug–out on ramrods… The combination of Shostakovich’s music and Altman’s scenery seemed to transform Shakespeare’s verses into sound and color”.

In a booklet issued for the premiere of the performance Shostakovich’s article was published, its contents going beyond an author’s comments to a play. The composer wrote: “Shakespeare’s tragedies are in themselves extremely musical: from the poetry and dynamics of these tragedies music is born… Each encounter with Shakespeare evokes ideas which far exceed the modest task one sets for himself on a given occasion. Musical dreams emerge, followed by hopes”.

Shostakovich: Music for Theatre

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