Set in mid-nineteenth-century Italy during a turbulent period of pre-Unification political unrest, The Gadfly drew from Shostakovich one of his most dazzling and popular film scores, heard hitherto on record only in a suite arranged and reorchestrated by Levon Atovmian. This recording presents the full, original score for the first time, as closely as possible to shostakovich’s original conception. Reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from the original manuscript and the Russian film soundtrack, it calls for a large orchestra including church bells, an organ, two guitars and a mandolin, all excluded from the Atovmian suite. The excerpts from The Counterplan, which marked the fifteenth anniversary of the 1917 Revolution, include the infectious hit-tune The Song of the Counterplan.

Lord Berners’ early music was avant-garde in style earning the admiration of Stravinsky, and while it was soon to become more accessible, it never lost its distinctive style and flavor. The Triumph of Neptune is one of his major works and his most ambitious ballet score, commissioned by Diaghilev with choreography by Balanchine. A ballet-pantomime-harlequinade, its inconsequential plot features music as diverse as it is brilliantly inventive. L’uomo dai baffiisa delicious ballet for puppets with stripped-back instrumentation, and Philip Lane’s deft orchestrations of Valses bourgeoises and Polka offer ripe wit.

The tapestry of drama, refinement and expressive lyricism in Dag Wiren’s four string quartets (the First Quartet was withdrawn) provides a substantial overview of his musical evolution over 35 years. His earlier works are more accessible than challenging, as demonstrated by the relaxed and affirmative Second and Third Quartets. The Fourth Quartet is more somber, with nods towards Sibelius and Shostakovich, and in the Fifth, completed not long before Wiren’s retirement as a composer, the easy confidence of the earlier quartets has been replaced by a mood of pessimism and uncertainty. The Wiren Quartet was formed in 1994 with Hans Elvkull and Linn Elvkull, who are still part of the ensemble. Roger Olsson and Hanna Thorell have been members since 2003. All four musicians play in the internationally renowned Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Liszt had first met Berlioz in Paris, before the first performance of the Symphonie fantastique in 1830 and in the following years did much to promote Berlioz’s work in transcriptions and then, in Weimar in the 1850s, in performances of original orchestral and dramatic works. Berlioz recalls their first meeting in his Memoirs: “I talked of Goethe’s Faust, which he admitted he had not read, but which he soon came to love as much as I. We felt an immediate affinity and from then onwards our friendship has grown always closer and stronger.” This new release, the 46th installment in the Complete Piano Music of Franz Liszt series, features several of his Berlioz Transcriptions, including selections from Berlioz’s most famous work, Symphonie Fantastique. Pianist Feng Bian received his Bachelor of Music degree and artist diploma from Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied with John Perry, and his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Peter Frankl and earned the Elizabith Parisot Prize. He is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at the USC Thornton School of Music. He has given recitals in China, Europe, and the United States, as well as having appeared as a soloist beside several major orchestras. In 2015 he was nominated for an American Pianist Award.

John Ireland’s music is often a response to landscape and romantic sensitivities, and with its significant musical clues, broad, songlike melodies and turbulent finale, the Sonata in G Minor is one of his most expressive and passionate works. A Downland Suite is one of Ireland’s most attractive compositions, especially for its exquisite Elegy and popular Minuet made familiar through its use in radio and television. Ireland’s evocative piano works lend themselves well to string orchestra arrangement, including the poetic Soliloquy, and In a May Morning inspired by spring on Guernsey.