Film Music Classic

Hamlet, Music For The 1964 Film by Shostakovich played by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky. The film was directed by Grigori Kozintsev. Naxos bill this as the first complete recording of the published film score. there is also a suite extracted from the music by arranger Lev Atovmian and I'm not certain that wouldn't be as viable a proposition as this premiere of the complete work. Listening to the disk through without the visual cue points leaves many disconnected snippets lasting around a minute or less that aren't really of any great significance. There is plenty of powerful music in the more substantial sections of the eight suites however, with primarily a brooding menacing feel typical of late Shostakovich. The Russian orchestra gives a performance that certainly isn't of budget standard despite being on Naxos ( to be fair that is often the case with this invaluable record label ).