That The Gadfly (1955) is both tuneful and engaging has sometimes been taken to reflect Shostakovich’s improved political situation following the death of Stalin. In reality it is the best evidence for the autonomy of his art in that its composition coincided with a personal crisis in his family life. Scoring the film, an Italian-set historical drama directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer (previously responsible for Lieutenant Kijé), was the only project he managed to complete between the deaths, a year apart, of his wife and his mother. Khachaturian had been lined up to provide the music. Shostakovich, only stepping in when his colleague fell ill, responded with his customary versatility and professionalism.

The substantial Gadfly Suite prepared by Levon Atovmyan has been recorded several times in whole or in part since Emin Khachaturian’s Melodiya-sourced recording of the early 1960s (CfP, 4/89). The yet more ubiquitous ‘Romance’, a cut-and-paste job made famous in the UK by its appropriation for the 1980s ITV spy drama Reilly, Ace of Spies, is only present in embryonic form in Shostakovich’s original. Daniel Hope with Maxim Shostakovich may have been the first to correct a wrong note in this familiar nugget (Warner, 6/06).

You’ll have come across other highlights on one of those mix-and-match compilations of the lighter Shostakovich in which cues culled from movie scores sit alongside material without cinematic connections. The present issue has loftier aims as a successor to Mark Fitz Gerald’s previous Naxos reclamations of film-related Shostakovich, including The New Babylon, Odna (‘Alone’) and The Girlfriends. It is the first disc to present The Gadfly’s original cues complete, now published as Vol 138 of the New Collected Works, embracing numbers transcribed from the soundtrack by the conductor himself and others dropped from the final cut. The three bonus items are from The Counterplan (1932) including the famous ‘Song’ which made its way into many other works, not all of them by Shostakovich. With lyrics by Harold J Rome it re-emerged as the ‘United Nations on the March’ finale of MGM’s film Thousands Cheer (1943).

Should you want just the familiar reworked Gadfly there’s still a case for Vassily Sinaisky’s more opulently recorded, purely orchestral 42-minute suite contained within Vol 2 of his Mancunian Shostakovich film music series (Chandos, 6/04). That said, Fitz Gerald secures stylish, thoroughly attentive playing in blunter, more immediate sound. Get past the small font and the booklet notes are impressively detailed. If you’re in two minds, the oft-recycled ‘Bazar’ (track 22) will have you hooked. Completists will not hesitate.