Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Military Music
3. Fanfares
4. Palace Ball
5. Story Of Horatio And The GHost
6. Ball
7. Ghost
8. Hamlet's Parting From Ophelia
9. Palace Music
10. Arrival Of The Players
11. What A Rogue And Peasant Slave
12. To Be Or Not To Be
13. Royal Fanfare
14. In The Garden
15. Booth Fanfare
16. Poisoning Scene
17. Flutes Play
18. Ophelia's Descent Into Madness (Song Of Ophelia)
19. Ophelia's Insanity
20. Death Of Ophelia
21. Hamlet At Ophelia's Grave
22. Cemetery
23. Duel/Death Of Hamlet/Hamlet's Funeral

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232720 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Hybrid SACD, SACD
• Running time: 62 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Complete Published Score
Shakspeare's "Hamlet" has been a particular favorite with Russian audiences and composers. Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich (Akimov's 1932 and Kozintsev's 1954 stage productions) all wrote incidental music for performances of the play. By the time Shostakovich would score Kozintsev's 1964 film version of "Hamlet" it would be the third time that he would write a score for it. For years most listeners only knew the music from the film from the suite arranged by Lev Atovmian. Yablonsky here gives us the complete published score of some 23 pieces lasting over an hour.
There is some fascinating and original music here parts of which would find their way into the 9th Sting Quartet. While most of it is eeriely subtle there are many moments of sharp dramatic attacks. The composer plays a cat and mouse game with the listener with uneasy calm only to be jolted back in the work. You will also hear something quite, quite rare in any Shostakovich score, a harpsichord. In a detached manner it underlines Ophelia's descent into madness, insanity and ultimate death. It is quite effective and makes one wish the composer had written more for the instrument. Dmitry Yablonsky appears to be Naxos new in house Shostakovich conductor having previously given listeners very fine performance of the 7th Symphony, the Jazz Suites and Suite from "The Bolt". The performances here are equally fine with some of the more dramatic moments appropriatey unsettling.
The track listings also indicate which of the 8 of the 23 pieces were used in the suite should you which to hear it that way. However when Atovmian made the suite he slightly trimmed most of the pieces so you get a slighty longer version of the suite should you program it that way. Very detailed notes from Naxos but the print could have been a bit bigger and darker. This is the first in a new series by Naxos called Film Music Classics. It is a great start.