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Shostakovich: The Gadfly
Bachchor Mainz
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Mark Fitz-Gerald
Having recorded vibrant accounts of meticulously restored film scores by Shostakovich, such as New Babylon and Alone, Mark Fitz-Gerald now reaches one of the most familiar by that composer…[The...
Shostakovich: The Gadfly
Bachchor Mainz
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Mark Fitz-Gerald
Purchase product
Having recorded vibrant accounts of meticulously restored film scores by Shostakovich, such as New Babylon and Alone, Mark Fitz-Gerald now reaches one of the most familiar by that composer…[The...
About
Set in mid-nineteenth-century Italy during a turbulent period of pre-Unification political unrest, The Gadfly drew from Shostakovich one of his most dazzling and popular film scores, heard hitherto on record only in a suite arranged and reorchestrated by Levon Atovmian. This recording presents the full, original score for the first time, as closely as possible to shostakovich’s original conception. Reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from the original manuscript and the Russian film soundtrack, it calls for a large orchestra including church bells, an organ, two guitars and a mandolin, all excluded from the Atovmian suite. The excerpts from The Counterplan, which marked the fifteenth anniversary of the 1917 Revolution, include the infectious hit-tune The Song of the Counterplan.
Contents and tracklist
- Nikolaus Boewer (violin), Florian Barak (cello), Elke Voelker (organ), Ralph Herrnkind (guitar), Christian Wernicke (mandolin)
- Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
- Mark Fitz-Gerald
- Recorded: 21-24 March 2017
- Recording Venue: Philharmonie, Ludwigshafen, Germany
- Mainz Bach Choir
- Recorded: 21-24 March 2017
- Recording Venue: Philharmonie, Ludwigshafen, Germany
- Elke Voelker (organ)
- Elke Voelker (organ)
- Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
- Mark Fitz-Gerald
- Recorded: 21-24 March 2017
- Recording Venue: Philharmonie, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
Christmas 2017
Having recorded vibrant accounts of meticulously restored film scores by Shostakovich, such as New Babylon and Alone, Mark Fitz-Gerald now reaches one of the most familiar by that composer…[The Gadfly] is here restored to the more subtle and varied colours of Shostakovich’s original orchestration.
February 2018
Fitz-Gerald secures stylish, thoroughly attentive playing…Completists will not hesitate.
19th November 2017
This is a real novelty, celebrating Shostakovich’s life-long devotion to writing film music...The full, eclectic soundtrack [of The Gadfly] has now been reconstructed, with a fantastic display of serious scholarship, passion and practical musicianship by Mark Fitz-Gerald...A lively curiosity, to be sure.
1st December 2017
Shostakovich turned some of the material into a short suite, but only now, thanks to great work by Mark Fitz-Gerald, all 29 sections have been recorded by the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Fitz-Gerald’s baton. ..Even if Shostakovich privately felt it was small beer, his know-how as a craftsman and a colourist is to the fore.
November 2017
It’s music with an intriguing mix of styles but with an emphasis on lighter, more accessible compositional techniques. This recording presents the full, original score for the first time, as closely as possible to Shostakovich’s original conception.
