Description

The Gadfly Suite by Shostakovich was written for the 1955 Soviet film The Gadfly – an epic story of faith, tragedy, revolution, romance, and heroism. Reports are that the book was compulsory reading in the Soviet Union and the PR of China for many years. The “Romance” section from the suite was inspired by Massenet’s Meditation from Thais and features a Rachmaninov-like melancholy solo. Romance was also used as the Theme for the BBC mini series Reilly, Ace of Spies.