The Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly - Shostakovich: The Dance Album (1996)

"The quantity of sheer entertainment music that Shostakovich composed is enormous. This is a disc of music by Shostakovich the entertainer, who seems very far from the tormented, nail-biting, chain-smoking character we can hear in so much of his more 'serious' music. To get some perspective on how the 'serious' composer and the 'entertainer' co-existed, we might consider that when 'The Bolt' was produced Shostakovich was already working on 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'; 'The Gadfly' was released between the premiers of the Tenth Symphony and the First Violin Concerto; and the composition of 'Cheryomushki' was bracketed by that of the Eleventh Symphony and the First Cello Concerto". With regard to 'The Gadfly' on this disc "this recording features thirteen of the score's most substantial numbers, preserving the music in its original form, and in the composer's original orchestration". (Andrew Huth from the album's program notes)