Appallingly awful as the music is, everybody who knows and loves -- or thinks they know and love --
Shostakovich has to hear this disc. First, both pieces on it are essentially world-premiere recordings of substantial works from his prime as a composer. Second, both pieces show a side of
Shostakovich that those who know and love only his heroic symphonies and intimate quartets may find surprising, even shocking: his vulgarity.
What else could the Soviet composer do? After being scathingly denounced in 1948 by the Central Committee of the Composer's Union,
Shostakovich was reduced to writing scores for Social Realist blockbusters. Mosfilm, like everything else in the USSR, was run by Stalin, but the tyrant took a special interest in movies and functioned as producer and de facto editor for every film made in the USSR. He also made sure he appeared in as many films as possible portrayed as the benevolent genius of his people. Not surprisingly, the actors who played Stalin were invariably taller and better looking than the man himself. In 1949,
Shostakovich was given the job of writing the score for The Fall of Berlin, an epic of the Great Patriotic War wrapped around a love story, and, in 1951, The Unforgettable Year 1919, another war movie, this one set during the civil war that followed the revolution.
As these dedicated recordings by the
Moscow Symphony Orchestra under the singularly named
Adriano conclusively demonstrate,
Shostakovich's music here is truly, deeply, profoundly, and appallingly awful. His melodies are banal. His colors are primary. His rhythms are elementary. His forms are rudimentary. It's not that
Shostakovich couldn't write great movie music -- many of his film scores from 1928's The New Babylon to 1970's King Lear are superlative -- it's that he seemingly saved his worst music for depicting the benevolent genius of his people. Through the
Moscow Symphony's performances, the grotesque expressivity, superficial sincerity, and obvious irony of
Shostakovich's music is made manifest. While those who don't already know and love
Shostakovich might want to start with his heroic symphonies and intimate quartets, those who do already know and love
Shostakovich but don't know this music owe it to themselves to hear this disc. It'll add a new dimension to the composer's personality. Naxos' sound is a bit harsh and a lot loud, but very effective.