Shostakovich composed some 30 film scores, a number of which have never appeared on gramophone record in any shape or form. The specialist collector is bound to have mixed feelings, then, about a new issue of two suites which have been available in the West in recent years (The gadfly on EMI ASD3309, 2/77—nla, Pirogov on EMI Angel SR40160—never generally available in the UK). On the one hand it is good to see them returning to the catalogue and available on CD; on the other, what about those scores awaiting a first recording, not to mention things like the incidental music to The flea, or the ballet The limpid stream, which provoked the follow-up article to Pravda's ''Chaos instead of Music''? Given that the performances are no more than decent and that the recording is marred by a high level of background hiss, a muted welcome seems about as much as this new release can hope for.
Still, there are good reasons why anyone who doesn't know this music might want to investigate it. Sociologically the whole question of Shostakovich's involvement with film music is interesting, since in one respect it seems to have been a genuine creative interest and in another it offered a vital means of earning a living when other sources were cut off. The practical aspect of film composition, the necessity for rapid production and adaptability to outside requirements, can also be unusually revealing of a composer's instinctive musical personality. The gadfly dates from 1955 between the Tenth and Eleventh Symphonies, not surprisingly there are echoes of the former in No. 3, ''Folk Festival'', and pre-echoes of the latter in the following ''Prelude''. From such pieces the listener can go back to the symphonies with renewed appreciation of their complexities. And Pirogov (composed in 1947) offers, in its scherzo, a fine example of Shostakovich's ability to derive inspiration from unlikely fusions of style, in this case Chopin's B flat minor Prelude and the duel scene from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
With the exception of the ''Romance'' from The gadfly whose solo violin part is beautifully turned, there are no palpable 'hits' on this record. Nevertheless, it is a serviceable issue and the music is certainly worth keeping alive.'