Shostakovich: Moscow - Cheryomushki suite / The Bolt suite / The Gadfly - excerpts, Opp. 27a,97,105 (The Dance Album)
Shostakovich (1906-1975) had two distinct musical personalities: the grim alchemist of  the string quartets and symphonies and the happy Soviet of his dance and film scores. These works  are of the latter Shostakovich--but don't let that put you off. There is a great deal of good music  here, and if some of it is ultimately trivial, who cares? Much of the frenetic dance rhythms come  from the 1920s and 1930s era of Stalinist Modernism: happy workers, happy factories, happy  collectives. It's still fun (and remember, even Prokofiev had it). This is an excellent recording all  the way around.--Paul Cook