Shostakovich: Film Music

Dmitri Shostakovich composed film music throughout his entire life, from his youth as a pianist accompanying silent films in Leningrad to the early 1970s. "New Babylon" sparked a political and artistic storm upon its release in 1929, but remains one of Shostakovich's finest film scores and is performed here in its entirety and uncut. The popular works "The Gadfly" and "Hamlet" are heard in premiere recordings of the complete scores. Also included are the scores for "Alone", "The Girlfriends", "Love and Hate", and "The Fall of Berlin" in premiere recordings that received international critical acclaim. Conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald is considered 'one of the essential Shostakovich interpreters of our time'. The Japanese premiere of "New Babylon" (opening concert of the Tokyo Summer Festival 2000) and the performance at the Rotterdam Gergiev Festival 2001 were significant events. Adriano initiated and recorded a series of 15 albums featuring works by European film composers and conceived and directed a series of classical music videos. All of his recording projects, realized with orchestras in Moscow and Bratislava (49 albums, 21 of which feature music by Swiss composers), received great recognition.