Gadfly

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 re-orchestrated by Levon Atovmian. This recording presents the full, original score for the first time, as closely as possible to Shostakovichs 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.

Although remembered principally for his large-scale orchestral works and concertos, Dmitri Shostakovich’s output for the big screen was also prolific. He was, in essence, the Russian John Williams of his day. Between 1929 and 1970 Shostakovich wrote more than thirty movie soundtracks, but it’s his score for the 1955 film The Gadfly that remains the big hit in this century.

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich[n 1] (25 September[O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century and one of its most popular composers.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of the Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex relationship with the government, from which he earned state awards and privileges. Throughout his life he participated in bureaucratic functions and delegations, including serving in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).