CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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6pg FOLDER

Walter Mnatsakanov’s career began in the mid-1960swhen the young conductor, a graduate of the Moscow(1953-58 – choirmaster) and Leningrad (1961–66 – operaand symphonic conductor) Conservatories, began his pro-fessional activity at the Chelyabinsk Opera and BalletTheater where he performed La Traviata, Rigoletto, DonCarlos, Tosca, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Swan Lake, TheNutcracker, Peer Gynt, Giselle and others. He continued hisconducting work with symphony orchestras in Minsk,including the Byelorussian Bolshoi Theater Orchestra andthe Byelorussian Conservatory Opera Studio and inGrozny, where he was chief conductor of the RepublicanSymphony Orchestra. During these years, Mnatsakanovextended his repertoire which presently embraces sym-phonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann,Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Shostakovich, Khachaturian,Kancheli, Szymanovsky and others. He has worked with many renowned Soviet per-formers including Pavel Serebriakov, Rudolf Kerer, Oxana Yablonskaya, Boris Gutnikov,Ruben Aharonian, and Igor Oistrakh as well as soloists from France, Germany,Yugoslavia and other countries. He continues to be invited to conduct various orchestrasin Russia.

Apart from his main work as a conductor, Walter Mnatsakanov has beenactively involved in teaching and writing music reviews since 1980. In addition, undercommission from the State publishing houseMusika, he has made a great number ofsymphonic transcriptions for piano and piano four/hands.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) DRD 2003

VIBORG DISTRICT, OP. 50 (1:49)THE MAN WITH A GUN, OP. 53

I Overture (1:36)II October (3:33)III Smolny (2:07)IIIa Smolny (1:56)IV Finale (1:07)

THE GREAT CITIZEN, OP. 52/55Funeral March (8:34)

PASSER-BY, OP. 33I (2:55)II (3:31)III (2:28)

SOFIA PEROVSKAYA, OP. 132March (1:10)Execution (1:31)I Allegro (2:48)III Allegretto (1:27)Valse (2:17)IV Moderato (1:19)V Duel (1:45)VII (Village) (4:12)VIII Voronezh (:31)IX Andante (4:42)X Allegro (:47)XI Allegro (6:47)XII Moderato (:43)XIII Dream (:42)XIV Allegro (1:32)XV Adagio (2:45)

Total Playing Time: 64:59

Byelorussian Radio and TV Symphony OrchestraWalter Mnatsakanov, conductor

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7 W 2010 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343 Sonoma, CA 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645

Disc Made in Canada • Assembled in USAwww.delosmusic.com

Recorded in the Byelorussian Radio Committee Studio, Minsk, November 1995Engineer: Eduard MartensMastering: Dmitri Missailov

Previously released on Russian Disc

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Piragov by Kozintzev and The Gadfly by A.Fayntzimmer are still remembered only thanksto Shostakovich’s famous “hits”: the Waltz andthe Romance. As for another famous specimen,the “Song about a Passer-by” from the filmPasser-by by Fridrikh Ermler, Sergei Yutkevichand Arnshtam, it still remains one of the mostsuggestive symbols of the 30s: a veritable call-ing-card of the epoch when, as the writer YuriDombrovsky said with bitter irony, “the peoplewere dancing and singing with more zeal thanever, the shop windows were beautiful, theprices were firm, and the money was easy.”

The film Passer-by (other titles were Encounterand Turbine 50000), released in 1932, dealswith one of the most urgent propaganda topicsof the epoch of the first economic Five-YearPlan: the so-called “socialist competition”among industrial plants striving for fulfillmentand over-fulfillment of the State Plan. Nodoubt, in our times, the story itself can hardlyinterest anyone except the most meticulous his-torians. It is only the music by Shostakovichthat imparts some more or less vivid traits toan uncomplicated, optimistic film poster. Thescore, presented on this disc in the form of aconcise symphonic suite, is full of variegatedideas, some of which are reminiscent ofShostakovich’s Symphony No. 3 written threeyears earlier. The tune of the “Song about aPasser-by” crowns the whole. It is worthremembering that in 1945 the same tune wasperformed in San Francisco as the officialanthem of the United Nations. Later, in 1957,

Shostakovich utilized it once more, this time inhis operettaMoscow-Cheremushki.

In contrast to Passer-by, the films The Man with aGun by Yutkevich (1938), The Great Citizen byErmler (in two parts, 1938 and 1939), and TheViborg District by Kozintzev and Trauberg (1939)deal with the recent history of the Soviet state.All came into being as parts of the overall plan of“mythologizing” the October Revolution and thefirst post-revolutionary years, of re-interpretingthe history of that epoch from the point of viewof full-grown and firmly established Stalinism.The Man with a Gun (another title:November) isthe filmed version of a theater play of the samename by Nikolai Pogodin. From the 1930s to the1950s the play in question was one of the mostimportant planks in the Soviet theater platform.Its action takes place in the days of the Bolshevikuprising of 1917; Lenin and Stalin are among itsdramatis personae. The Great Citizen is a mytholo-gized version of the biography of Sergei Kirov,leader of the Communist organization ofLeningrad, who in the late 1920s and early 1930swas considered the Party’s Number Two; killedunder mysterious circumstances on December 1,1934, he was posthumously canonized as one ofthe greatest martyrs of the Revolution. Finally,Viborg District is the third part of a cycle knownas The Maxim Trilogy; the hero, a simple proletar-ian youth who joined the Bolshevik party, partic-ipated in the Revolution and was introduced toLenin hemself, is one of the most characteristicfigures of Soviet arts and letters of the 1930s. Therevolutionary epic by Kozintzev

Shostakovich’s first professional contact withthe world of cinema dates from 1923-24 when,still a student at the Petersburg Conservatory,

he was constrained to earn a living as a pianist inthemovie houses of his native city. The job wasextremely boring for him yet it became an impor-tant source of experience which turned out to beuseful in his professional activity. Hemastered theart of improvising in diverse musical genres, eventhemost “vulgar” ones. The necessity of quicklyvarying the tempo, rythm andmood of the musiche played, in accord with the events on the screen,favored the development of that unique stylisticflexibility which is so characteristic ofShostakovich’s “serious” scores.

Shostakovich’s immense and multi-faceted skill isevident already in his first original film score—the music for The New Babylon (1928) — a silentfilm dealing with the events of the ParisCommune. Eventually, Shostakovich’s score wasrejected as too extravagant and difficult for perfor-mance; obviously, the young composer, thoughalready a noted author of two symphonies and anopera, was not in a position to come to terms withconservative orchestral musicians playing in cine-ma halls (today, the music for The New Babylon isknown in the form of a symphonic suite compiledby Gennady Rozhdestvensky). Yet, Shostakovich’scollaboration with Grigoriy Kozintzev and LeonidTrauberg, the directors of The New Babylon, contin-ued. Shostakovich wrote music for nine films pro-duced by Kozintzev with or without Trauberg; hiscareer in the field of incidental music ended in1970 with Kozintzev’s King Lear. Among the film

directors with whom Shostakovich collaboratedespecially willingly it is necessary to mention alsoLeo Arnshtam: together, they made six films. Onthe whole, over four decades, Shostakovich wrotemusic for 33 movies.

It is important to note that the highest peaks ofShostakovich’s activity in cinema coincided withthe second half of the 1930s and the last fiveyears of Stalin’s reign. Both peaks stand in imme-diate relation to the most dramatic events in thecomposer’s biography: both follow theredoubtable anti-Shostakovich attacks undertak-en by the country’s highest authorities in 1936and 1948 respectively. In both cases, the dis-graced composer, officially accused of being aliento the Soviet people and in taking the path of“rotting bourgeois formalism,” managed to finda relatively secure refuge in writing music formovies. According to an apocryphal account,Stalin — who, being aware of the immense pro-pagandistic importance of cinema, kept the coun-try’s film industry under his personal control —was a devoted admirer of Shostakovich’s filmmusic; this, presumably, saved the composerfrom the concentration camp. Be that as it may,Shostakovich’s services in this particular fieldbrought him in 1940 the Order of the Red Banner.

Almost all the films Shostakovich scored arenowadays completely forgotten (the most con-spicuous exceptions being Kozintzev’s Hamletand King Lear). Yet, Shostakovich’s film scores —at least the best ones among them— continuetheir own, independent life. Such films as

2 3

and Trauberg was appreciated according to itsmerits: in 1941 the trilogy was awarded theStalin Prize of the first degree.

All three films, though realized by differentartists, are modeled according to the sameapproved canon: no surprise that the music byShostakovich also is stylistically more or less thesame. Both the Overture to The Man with a Gunand the Suite from Viborg District are pieces in aheroic mood, based primarily on characteristicinvocatory intonations of revolutionary tunes. Acontrasting element is introduced through mod-ulations towards somewhat lighter idioms. As tothe funeral music from the second part of TheGreat Citizen, it seems that while composing it,Shostakovich had before his eyes the funeralmarches from Beethoven’s Eroica andWagner’sGötterdämmerung; in particular, the counterpointof motives from the Internationale and the secondsonata of Chopin in the piece’s climax are vividlyreminiscent of theWagnerian mode of workingwith leitmotivs.

Sofia Perovskaya, by Arnshtam, was released in1968. It represents the story of the life and deathof a conspicuous activist of the terrorist organi-zationNarodnaya Volya (“The People’s Will”),responsible for the assassination of CzarAlexander II onMarch 1, 1881. Perhaps thisstrong, even ruthless female character hadattracted Shostakovich’s attention because of herlikeness to his favorite heroine KaterinaIzmailova. In 1934, just after the triumphant pre-miere of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,

Shostakovich announced his plan to continue the“feminist” line initiated by that work. In particu-lar, he intended to compose an opera about avaliant young woman, an activist of a revolu-tionary movement, who had abandoned herquiet, comfortable life for the sake of higherideals. In the twilight of his life he could partlyrealize that intention and the result proved fairlyimpressive. Aesthetically, the music to SofiaPerovskaya is one of Shostakovich’s most accom-plished contributions to cinemamusic. Thepolarity of “tragedy” and “satire,” first revealedin Lady Macbeth, pervades the suite from SofiaPerovskaya as well. The satirical pole is represent-ed especially by the music’s opening episode, themarch of policemen who lead the revolutionariesto the gallows, while the tragic one is represent-ed by amply developed symphonic fragmentsreminiscent of some of the sublime slowmove-ments of Shostakovich’s symphonies. LikeKaterina Izmailova, Sofia Perovskaya is por-trayed in music with extreme tenderness —which is rather atypical of Shostakovich who, ingeneral, avoided in his music every sign of “sen-timentalism.” For the connoisseurs ofShostakovich’s art it is really great luck to havethis remarkable specimen of his late style avail-able on CD.

© 1997 Levon Hakopian

4

DRD2003fold6.qxd:3294fold6.qxd 8/12/10 4:12 PM Page 2

BLACK

Job#

Pg. 4

6pg FOLDER

Pg. 3Pg. 2INSIDE

Piragov by Kozintzev and The Gadfly by A.Fayntzimmer are still remembered only thanksto Shostakovich’s famous “hits”: the Waltz andthe Romance. As for another famous specimen,the “Song about a Passer-by” from the filmPasser-by by Fridrikh Ermler, Sergei Yutkevichand Arnshtam, it still remains one of the mostsuggestive symbols of the 30s: a veritable call-ing-card of the epoch when, as the writer YuriDombrovsky said with bitter irony, “the peoplewere dancing and singing with more zeal thanever, the shop windows were beautiful, theprices were firm, and the money was easy.”

The film Passer-by (other titles were Encounterand Turbine 50000), released in 1932, dealswith one of the most urgent propaganda topicsof the epoch of the first economic Five-YearPlan: the so-called “socialist competition”among industrial plants striving for fulfillmentand over-fulfillment of the State Plan. Nodoubt, in our times, the story itself can hardlyinterest anyone except the most meticulous his-torians. It is only the music by Shostakovichthat imparts some more or less vivid traits toan uncomplicated, optimistic film poster. Thescore, presented on this disc in the form of aconcise symphonic suite, is full of variegatedideas, some of which are reminiscent ofShostakovich’s Symphony No. 3 written threeyears earlier. The tune of the “Song about aPasser-by” crowns the whole. It is worthremembering that in 1945 the same tune wasperformed in San Francisco as the officialanthem of the United Nations. Later, in 1957,

Shostakovich utilized it once more, this time inhis operettaMoscow-Cheremushki.

In contrast to Passer-by, the films The Man with aGun by Yutkevich (1938), The Great Citizen byErmler (in two parts, 1938 and 1939), and TheViborg District by Kozintzev and Trauberg (1939)deal with the recent history of the Soviet state.All came into being as parts of the overall plan of“mythologizing” the October Revolution and thefirst post-revolutionary years, of re-interpretingthe history of that epoch from the point of viewof full-grown and firmly established Stalinism.The Man with a Gun (another title:November) isthe filmed version of a theater play of the samename by Nikolai Pogodin. From the 1930s to the1950s the play in question was one of the mostimportant planks in the Soviet theater platform.Its action takes place in the days of the Bolshevikuprising of 1917; Lenin and Stalin are among itsdramatis personae. The Great Citizen is a mytholo-gized version of the biography of Sergei Kirov,leader of the Communist organization ofLeningrad, who in the late 1920s and early 1930swas considered the Party’s Number Two; killedunder mysterious circumstances on December 1,1934, he was posthumously canonized as one ofthe greatest martyrs of the Revolution. Finally,Viborg District is the third part of a cycle knownas The Maxim Trilogy; the hero, a simple proletar-ian youth who joined the Bolshevik party, partic-ipated in the Revolution and was introduced toLenin hemself, is one of the most characteristicfigures of Soviet arts and letters of the 1930s. Therevolutionary epic by Kozintzev

Shostakovich’s first professional contact withthe world of cinema dates from 1923-24 when,still a student at the Petersburg Conservatory,

he was constrained to earn a living as a pianist inthemovie houses of his native city. The job wasextremely boring for him yet it became an impor-tant source of experience which turned out to beuseful in his professional activity. Hemastered theart of improvising in diverse musical genres, eventhemost “vulgar” ones. The necessity of quicklyvarying the tempo, rythm andmood of the musiche played, in accord with the events on the screen,favored the development of that unique stylisticflexibility which is so characteristic ofShostakovich’s “serious” scores.

Shostakovich’s immense and multi-faceted skill isevident already in his first original film score—the music for The New Babylon (1928) — a silentfilm dealing with the events of the ParisCommune. Eventually, Shostakovich’s score wasrejected as too extravagant and difficult for perfor-mance; obviously, the young composer, thoughalready a noted author of two symphonies and anopera, was not in a position to come to terms withconservative orchestral musicians playing in cine-ma halls (today, the music for The New Babylon isknown in the form of a symphonic suite compiledby Gennady Rozhdestvensky). Yet, Shostakovich’scollaboration with Grigoriy Kozintzev and LeonidTrauberg, the directors of The New Babylon, contin-ued. Shostakovich wrote music for nine films pro-duced by Kozintzev with or without Trauberg; hiscareer in the field of incidental music ended in1970 with Kozintzev’s King Lear. Among the film

directors with whom Shostakovich collaboratedespecially willingly it is necessary to mention alsoLeo Arnshtam: together, they made six films. Onthe whole, over four decades, Shostakovich wrotemusic for 33 movies.

It is important to note that the highest peaks ofShostakovich’s activity in cinema coincided withthe second half of the 1930s and the last fiveyears of Stalin’s reign. Both peaks stand in imme-diate relation to the most dramatic events in thecomposer’s biography: both follow theredoubtable anti-Shostakovich attacks undertak-en by the country’s highest authorities in 1936and 1948 respectively. In both cases, the dis-graced composer, officially accused of being aliento the Soviet people and in taking the path of“rotting bourgeois formalism,” managed to finda relatively secure refuge in writing music formovies. According to an apocryphal account,Stalin — who, being aware of the immense pro-pagandistic importance of cinema, kept the coun-try’s film industry under his personal control —was a devoted admirer of Shostakovich’s filmmusic; this, presumably, saved the composerfrom the concentration camp. Be that as it may,Shostakovich’s services in this particular fieldbrought him in 1940 the Order of the Red Banner.

Almost all the films Shostakovich scored arenowadays completely forgotten (the most con-spicuous exceptions being Kozintzev’s Hamletand King Lear). Yet, Shostakovich’s film scores —at least the best ones among them— continuetheir own, independent life. Such films as

2 3

and Trauberg was appreciated according to itsmerits: in 1941 the trilogy was awarded theStalin Prize of the first degree.

All three films, though realized by differentartists, are modeled according to the sameapproved canon: no surprise that the music byShostakovich also is stylistically more or less thesame. Both the Overture to The Man with a Gunand the Suite from Viborg District are pieces in aheroic mood, based primarily on characteristicinvocatory intonations of revolutionary tunes. Acontrasting element is introduced through mod-ulations towards somewhat lighter idioms. As tothe funeral music from the second part of TheGreat Citizen, it seems that while composing it,Shostakovich had before his eyes the funeralmarches from Beethoven’s Eroica andWagner’sGötterdämmerung; in particular, the counterpointof motives from the Internationale and the secondsonata of Chopin in the piece’s climax are vividlyreminiscent of theWagnerian mode of workingwith leitmotivs.

Sofia Perovskaya, by Arnshtam, was released in1968. It represents the story of the life and deathof a conspicuous activist of the terrorist organi-zationNarodnaya Volya (“The People’s Will”),responsible for the assassination of CzarAlexander II onMarch 1, 1881. Perhaps thisstrong, even ruthless female character hadattracted Shostakovich’s attention because of herlikeness to his favorite heroine KaterinaIzmailova. In 1934, just after the triumphant pre-miere of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,

Shostakovich announced his plan to continue the“feminist” line initiated by that work. In particu-lar, he intended to compose an opera about avaliant young woman, an activist of a revolu-tionary movement, who had abandoned herquiet, comfortable life for the sake of higherideals. In the twilight of his life he could partlyrealize that intention and the result proved fairlyimpressive. Aesthetically, the music to SofiaPerovskaya is one of Shostakovich’s most accom-plished contributions to cinemamusic. Thepolarity of “tragedy” and “satire,” first revealedin Lady Macbeth, pervades the suite from SofiaPerovskaya as well. The satirical pole is represent-ed especially by the music’s opening episode, themarch of policemen who lead the revolutionariesto the gallows, while the tragic one is represent-ed by amply developed symphonic fragmentsreminiscent of some of the sublime slowmove-ments of Shostakovich’s symphonies. LikeKaterina Izmailova, Sofia Perovskaya is por-trayed in music with extreme tenderness —which is rather atypical of Shostakovich who, ingeneral, avoided in his music every sign of “sen-timentalism.” For the connoisseurs ofShostakovich’s art it is really great luck to havethis remarkable specimen of his late style avail-able on CD.

© 1997 Levon Hakopian

4

DRD2003fold6.qxd:3294fold6.qxd 8/12/10 4:12 PM Page 2

BLACK

Job#

Pg. 4

6pg FOLDER

Pg. 3Pg. 2INSIDE

Piragov by Kozintzev and The Gadfly by A.Fayntzimmer are still remembered only thanksto Shostakovich’s famous “hits”: the Waltz andthe Romance. As for another famous specimen,the “Song about a Passer-by” from the filmPasser-by by Fridrikh Ermler, Sergei Yutkevichand Arnshtam, it still remains one of the mostsuggestive symbols of the 30s: a veritable call-ing-card of the epoch when, as the writer YuriDombrovsky said with bitter irony, “the peoplewere dancing and singing with more zeal thanever, the shop windows were beautiful, theprices were firm, and the money was easy.”

The film Passer-by (other titles were Encounterand Turbine 50000), released in 1932, dealswith one of the most urgent propaganda topicsof the epoch of the first economic Five-YearPlan: the so-called “socialist competition”among industrial plants striving for fulfillmentand over-fulfillment of the State Plan. Nodoubt, in our times, the story itself can hardlyinterest anyone except the most meticulous his-torians. It is only the music by Shostakovichthat imparts some more or less vivid traits toan uncomplicated, optimistic film poster. Thescore, presented on this disc in the form of aconcise symphonic suite, is full of variegatedideas, some of which are reminiscent ofShostakovich’s Symphony No. 3 written threeyears earlier. The tune of the “Song about aPasser-by” crowns the whole. It is worthremembering that in 1945 the same tune wasperformed in San Francisco as the officialanthem of the United Nations. Later, in 1957,

Shostakovich utilized it once more, this time inhis operettaMoscow-Cheremushki.

In contrast to Passer-by, the films The Man with aGun by Yutkevich (1938), The Great Citizen byErmler (in two parts, 1938 and 1939), and TheViborg District by Kozintzev and Trauberg (1939)deal with the recent history of the Soviet state.All came into being as parts of the overall plan of“mythologizing” the October Revolution and thefirst post-revolutionary years, of re-interpretingthe history of that epoch from the point of viewof full-grown and firmly established Stalinism.The Man with a Gun (another title:November) isthe filmed version of a theater play of the samename by Nikolai Pogodin. From the 1930s to the1950s the play in question was one of the mostimportant planks in the Soviet theater platform.Its action takes place in the days of the Bolshevikuprising of 1917; Lenin and Stalin are among itsdramatis personae. The Great Citizen is a mytholo-gized version of the biography of Sergei Kirov,leader of the Communist organization ofLeningrad, who in the late 1920s and early 1930swas considered the Party’s Number Two; killedunder mysterious circumstances on December 1,1934, he was posthumously canonized as one ofthe greatest martyrs of the Revolution. Finally,Viborg District is the third part of a cycle knownas The Maxim Trilogy; the hero, a simple proletar-ian youth who joined the Bolshevik party, partic-ipated in the Revolution and was introduced toLenin hemself, is one of the most characteristicfigures of Soviet arts and letters of the 1930s. Therevolutionary epic by Kozintzev

Shostakovich’s first professional contact withthe world of cinema dates from 1923-24 when,still a student at the Petersburg Conservatory,

he was constrained to earn a living as a pianist inthemovie houses of his native city. The job wasextremely boring for him yet it became an impor-tant source of experience which turned out to beuseful in his professional activity. Hemastered theart of improvising in diverse musical genres, eventhemost “vulgar” ones. The necessity of quicklyvarying the tempo, rythm andmood of the musiche played, in accord with the events on the screen,favored the development of that unique stylisticflexibility which is so characteristic ofShostakovich’s “serious” scores.

Shostakovich’s immense and multi-faceted skill isevident already in his first original film score—the music for The New Babylon (1928) — a silentfilm dealing with the events of the ParisCommune. Eventually, Shostakovich’s score wasrejected as too extravagant and difficult for perfor-mance; obviously, the young composer, thoughalready a noted author of two symphonies and anopera, was not in a position to come to terms withconservative orchestral musicians playing in cine-ma halls (today, the music for The New Babylon isknown in the form of a symphonic suite compiledby Gennady Rozhdestvensky). Yet, Shostakovich’scollaboration with Grigoriy Kozintzev and LeonidTrauberg, the directors of The New Babylon, contin-ued. Shostakovich wrote music for nine films pro-duced by Kozintzev with or without Trauberg; hiscareer in the field of incidental music ended in1970 with Kozintzev’s King Lear. Among the film

directors with whom Shostakovich collaboratedespecially willingly it is necessary to mention alsoLeo Arnshtam: together, they made six films. Onthe whole, over four decades, Shostakovich wrotemusic for 33 movies.

It is important to note that the highest peaks ofShostakovich’s activity in cinema coincided withthe second half of the 1930s and the last fiveyears of Stalin’s reign. Both peaks stand in imme-diate relation to the most dramatic events in thecomposer’s biography: both follow theredoubtable anti-Shostakovich attacks undertak-en by the country’s highest authorities in 1936and 1948 respectively. In both cases, the dis-graced composer, officially accused of being aliento the Soviet people and in taking the path of“rotting bourgeois formalism,” managed to finda relatively secure refuge in writing music formovies. According to an apocryphal account,Stalin — who, being aware of the immense pro-pagandistic importance of cinema, kept the coun-try’s film industry under his personal control —was a devoted admirer of Shostakovich’s filmmusic; this, presumably, saved the composerfrom the concentration camp. Be that as it may,Shostakovich’s services in this particular fieldbrought him in 1940 the Order of the Red Banner.

Almost all the films Shostakovich scored arenowadays completely forgotten (the most con-spicuous exceptions being Kozintzev’s Hamletand King Lear). Yet, Shostakovich’s film scores —at least the best ones among them— continuetheir own, independent life. Such films as

2 3

and Trauberg was appreciated according to itsmerits: in 1941 the trilogy was awarded theStalin Prize of the first degree.

All three films, though realized by differentartists, are modeled according to the sameapproved canon: no surprise that the music byShostakovich also is stylistically more or less thesame. Both the Overture to The Man with a Gunand the Suite from Viborg District are pieces in aheroic mood, based primarily on characteristicinvocatory intonations of revolutionary tunes. Acontrasting element is introduced through mod-ulations towards somewhat lighter idioms. As tothe funeral music from the second part of TheGreat Citizen, it seems that while composing it,Shostakovich had before his eyes the funeralmarches from Beethoven’s Eroica andWagner’sGötterdämmerung; in particular, the counterpointof motives from the Internationale and the secondsonata of Chopin in the piece’s climax are vividlyreminiscent of theWagnerian mode of workingwith leitmotivs.

Sofia Perovskaya, by Arnshtam, was released in1968. It represents the story of the life and deathof a conspicuous activist of the terrorist organi-zationNarodnaya Volya (“The People’s Will”),responsible for the assassination of CzarAlexander II onMarch 1, 1881. Perhaps thisstrong, even ruthless female character hadattracted Shostakovich’s attention because of herlikeness to his favorite heroine KaterinaIzmailova. In 1934, just after the triumphant pre-miere of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,

Shostakovich announced his plan to continue the“feminist” line initiated by that work. In particu-lar, he intended to compose an opera about avaliant young woman, an activist of a revolu-tionary movement, who had abandoned herquiet, comfortable life for the sake of higherideals. In the twilight of his life he could partlyrealize that intention and the result proved fairlyimpressive. Aesthetically, the music to SofiaPerovskaya is one of Shostakovich’s most accom-plished contributions to cinemamusic. Thepolarity of “tragedy” and “satire,” first revealedin Lady Macbeth, pervades the suite from SofiaPerovskaya as well. The satirical pole is represent-ed especially by the music’s opening episode, themarch of policemen who lead the revolutionariesto the gallows, while the tragic one is represent-ed by amply developed symphonic fragmentsreminiscent of some of the sublime slowmove-ments of Shostakovich’s symphonies. LikeKaterina Izmailova, Sofia Perovskaya is por-trayed in music with extreme tenderness —which is rather atypical of Shostakovich who, ingeneral, avoided in his music every sign of “sen-timentalism.” For the connoisseurs ofShostakovich’s art it is really great luck to havethis remarkable specimen of his late style avail-able on CD.

© 1997 Levon Hakopian

4

DRD2003fold6.qxd:3294fold6.qxd 8/12/10 4:12 PM Page 2

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKJob#

FRONTPg. 6Pg. 5

6pg FOLDER

Walter Mnatsakanov’s career began in the mid-1960swhen the young conductor, a graduate of the Moscow(1953-58 – choirmaster) and Leningrad (1961–66 – operaand symphonic conductor) Conservatories, began his pro-fessional activity at the Chelyabinsk Opera and BalletTheater where he performed La Traviata, Rigoletto, DonCarlos, Tosca, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Swan Lake, TheNutcracker, Peer Gynt, Giselle and others. He continued hisconducting work with symphony orchestras in Minsk,including the Byelorussian Bolshoi Theater Orchestra andthe Byelorussian Conservatory Opera Studio and inGrozny, where he was chief conductor of the RepublicanSymphony Orchestra. During these years, Mnatsakanovextended his repertoire which presently embraces sym-phonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann,Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Shostakovich, Khachaturian,Kancheli, Szymanovsky and others. He has worked with many renowned Soviet per-formers including Pavel Serebriakov, Rudolf Kerer, Oxana Yablonskaya, Boris Gutnikov,Ruben Aharonian, and Igor Oistrakh as well as soloists from France, Germany,Yugoslavia and other countries. He continues to be invited to conduct various orchestrasin Russia.

Apart from his main work as a conductor, Walter Mnatsakanov has beenactively involved in teaching and writing music reviews since 1980. In addition, undercommission from the State publishing houseMusika, he has made a great number ofsymphonic transcriptions for piano and piano four/hands.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) DRD 2003

VIBORG DISTRICT, OP. 50 (1:49)THE MAN WITH A GUN, OP. 53

I Overture (1:36)II October (3:33)III Smolny (2:07)IIIa Smolny (1:56)IV Finale (1:07)

THE GREAT CITIZEN, OP. 52/55Funeral March (8:34)

PASSER-BY, OP. 33I (2:55)II (3:31)III (2:28)

SOFIA PEROVSKAYA, OP. 132March (1:10)Execution (1:31)I Allegro (2:48)III Allegretto (1:27)Valse (2:17)IV Moderato (1:19)V Duel (1:45)VII (Village) (4:12)VIII Voronezh (:31)IX Andante (4:42)X Allegro (:47)XI Allegro (6:47)XII Moderato (:43)XIII Dream (:42)XIV Allegro (1:32)XV Adagio (2:45)

Total Playing Time: 64:59

Byelorussian Radio and TV Symphony OrchestraWalter Mnatsakanov, conductor

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7 W 2010 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343 Sonoma, CA 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645

Disc Made in Canada • Assembled in USAwww.delosmusic.com

Recorded in the Byelorussian Radio Committee Studio, Minsk, November 1995Engineer: Eduard MartensMastering: Dmitri Missailov

Previously released on Russian Disc

DRD2003fold6.qxd:3294fold6.qxd 8/12/10 4:12 PM Page 1

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Job#

FRONTPg. 6Pg. 5

6pg FOLDER

Walter Mnatsakanov’s career began in the mid-1960swhen the young conductor, a graduate of the Moscow(1953-58 – choirmaster) and Leningrad (1961–66 – operaand symphonic conductor) Conservatories, began his pro-fessional activity at the Chelyabinsk Opera and BalletTheater where he performed La Traviata, Rigoletto, DonCarlos, Tosca, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin, Swan Lake, TheNutcracker, Peer Gynt, Giselle and others. He continued hisconducting work with symphony orchestras in Minsk,including the Byelorussian Bolshoi Theater Orchestra andthe Byelorussian Conservatory Opera Studio and inGrozny, where he was chief conductor of the RepublicanSymphony Orchestra. During these years, Mnatsakanovextended his repertoire which presently embraces sym-phonies by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann,Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Shostakovich, Khachaturian,Kancheli, Szymanovsky and others. He has worked with many renowned Soviet per-formers including Pavel Serebriakov, Rudolf Kerer, Oxana Yablonskaya, Boris Gutnikov,Ruben Aharonian, and Igor Oistrakh as well as soloists from France, Germany,Yugoslavia and other countries. He continues to be invited to conduct various orchestrasin Russia.

Apart from his main work as a conductor, Walter Mnatsakanov has beenactively involved in teaching and writing music reviews since 1980. In addition, undercommission from the State publishing houseMusika, he has made a great number ofsymphonic transcriptions for piano and piano four/hands.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) DRD 2003

VIBORG DISTRICT, OP. 50 (1:49)THE MAN WITH A GUN, OP. 53

I Overture (1:36)II October (3:33)III Smolny (2:07)IIIa Smolny (1:56)IV Finale (1:07)

THE GREAT CITIZEN, OP. 52/55Funeral March (8:34)

PASSER-BY, OP. 33I (2:55)II (3:31)III (2:28)

SOFIA PEROVSKAYA, OP. 132March (1:10)Execution (1:31)I Allegro (2:48)III Allegretto (1:27)Valse (2:17)IV Moderato (1:19)V Duel (1:45)VII (Village) (4:12)VIII Voronezh (:31)IX Andante (4:42)X Allegro (:47)XI Allegro (6:47)XII Moderato (:43)XIII Dream (:42)XIV Allegro (1:32)XV Adagio (2:45)

Total Playing Time: 64:59

Byelorussian Radio and TV Symphony OrchestraWalter Mnatsakanov, conductor

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

7 W 2010 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343 Sonoma, CA 95476-9998(707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645

Disc Made in Canada • Assembled in USAwww.delosmusic.com

Recorded in the Byelorussian Radio Committee Studio, Minsk, November 1995Engineer: Eduard MartensMastering: Dmitri Missailov

Previously released on Russian Disc

DRD2003fold6.qxd:3294fold6.qxd 8/12/10 4:12 PM Page 1