The Melodiya digital album features suites from Dmitri Shostakovich’s ballets The Golden Age and The Bolt. They were written in 1930 and 1931 by then the young, strengthful and cheerful person whose perception was sharp and fresh, so the suites are overcharged with emotional energy and the zeitgeist. The music of the ballets is aphoristic, like a poster or a slogan of the time, sometimes derisive and witty like a caricature, sometimes deep and lyrical like a secret poetic outpouring. The suites were recorded in 1966 by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra conducted by the composer’s son, Maxim Shostakovich.
