Shostakovich: Film Music - Hamlet; King Lear; Five Days and Five Nights

On this CD:

1. Hamlet, suite from the film score, Op.116a (assembled by Atovmyan)
Composed by Dmitry Shostakovich
Performed by Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Jose Serebrier

2. King Lear, incidental music, Op. 58a
Composed by Dmitry Shostakovich
Performed by Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Jose Serebrier

3. Five Days - Five Nights, suite from the film score, Op. 111a (assembled by Atovmyan)
Composed by Dmitry Shostakovich
Performed by Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Jose Serebrier

Tracks:

Overture [From the Gadfly]
Waltz [From Golden Mountains]
Prolog [From Trilogy and Maxim]
In the Garden [From the Wall of Berlin]
Galop [From Odna]
Romance [From the Gadfly]
Ball at the Castle [From Hamlet]
Song of Cordelia [From King Lear]
Fight on the Barricades [From Trilogy About Maxim]
Nocturne [From the Gadfly]
Funeral March and Finale [From Trilogy and Maxim]

Tracks:

Prelude [From the Fall of Berlin]
Fair [From the Gadfly]
In the Garden [From Hamlet]
Prelude [From Trilogy and Maxim]
Introduction [From the Gadfly]
Tempo Di Marcia
Lunch at Gonerilja [From King Lear]
New Babylon, Pt. 1
Adagio [From Soja]
Liberated Dresden [From Five Days-Five Nights]

Customer Reviews:

Sounds bad.......2006-10-13

The edition of this CD that I have only contains the first CD listed above. So this review is an assessment of those first 11 songs.

My interest in Shostakovich continues to grow, despite these unprofessional recordings. The sustained notes that conclude the "Waltz (from 'Golden Mountains')" are overblown and horribly out-of-tune. The vocal solos are delivered with just as much subtlety. In all honesty, much of this collection sounds like a remedial high school band that had booked just two hours of studio time.

Overall, pretty crummy sounding.

Would have been one of Hollywood's best........2004-01-10

Shostakovich's film music is usually disparaged when compared with his concert hall compositions. Of course it isn't up to those standards. Most of the movies weren't good & some scoring assignments were actually propaganda punishments for his "formalist" & "decadent" creative transgressions, & none ranks with the Eisenstein/Prokofiev collaborations. But try comparing this music with what came out of Hollywood during the later of these years. Alex North is rightly praised for "Cleopatra," Franz Waxman for "Taras Bulba" & "Peyton Place." Also John Green's "Raintree County." These are hardly film classics. Miklos Rozsa, a consummate professional, turned out memorable scores for some very expensive clinkers. Such examples are legion. Brits William Walton & Malcom Arnold arranged concert suites of their movie music. & I personally despise Maurice Jarre for composing that insidious earworm, "Lara's Theme."

This double CD box is indifferently programmed & contains no liner notes; you'll have to sort out the history yourself. But the performances are fine - a few are on higher-priced releases. The music itself ranges from cabaret to waltzes to dramatic battle action. In "New Babylon" the Krafty Komposer demonstrates the sardonic wit he often used to mock his Soviet Kulture Kummittee Kumrades.

Bob Rixon

Best of Motion Picture Scores.......2000-07-22

If you like Shostakovich's main music, check out this sampling of his motion picture scores, his little know music. I think you will be suprisue.