*** Dmitri Shostakovich

MOVIE MADNESS

(Capriccio)

For nearly half a century, along with his symphonies, operas, and chamber music, Shostakovich was also writing soundtrack music for Soviet films. However brilliant his orchestration, however ambitious his musical architecture, many of his most "important" works are still a long drink of water. But most of the selections on this delightful album of excerpts from his film scores are only two or three minutes long. He used or invented popular tunes in his symphonies, but here his borrowings are even more deliciously tongue-in-cheek. The film Golden Mountain must be set in Vienna -- its Waltz is an infectious and admiring take-off on Strauss. The "Liberated Dresden" scene from Five Days -- Five Nights ends with an acidic orchestration of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

All of the Movie Madness the selections are taken from discs that contain more complete soundtracks -- worth exploring someday. But for now, I'm happy listening to these rousing, sentimental, and comic miniatures, vividly played by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Michail Jurowski, James Judd, and Leonid Grin, and sung exuberantly by Swetlana Katchur, Jelena Zaremba, and Wladimir Kazatchouk. This is Shostakovich at his most charming and understated. I haven't seen any of the movies, but I like guessing what the stories might be. In fact, since I like to create my own scenario for his longer works, the very fact that Shostakovich wrote so much film music reassures me. How could all that musical visualization of screen images not have influenced his concert music?

-- Lloyd Schwartz