The human comedy ; The nose ; The shot (2025)

"The Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra led by Mark Fitz-Gerald present reconstructions of previously unheard music from two significant theatre works by Shostakovich – "The Shot" and "The Human Comedy" – and rarely heard selections from his first serious opera "The Nose". Shostakovich was known for his fun-loving attitude during his early years as a composer. The colorful incidental music for "The Shot" – reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from the original piano scores – vividly evokes the raucous life of experimental youth theatre in Leningrad during the late 1920s. This carefree world had changed dramatically by 1934 when Shostakovich completed his music for "The Human Comedy" – a work that creates a charming atmosphere of Parisian escapism. Discarded movements from his first opera The Nose form an entire orchestral suite. The program concludes with Fitz-Gerald’s reconstruction of the “March of the Anarchists,” transcribed by ear from the film The Vyborg Side." (CD-boekje)