The Gadfly Suite by Dmitri Shostakovich was written for the 1955 Soviet film The Gadfly. It is an epic story of faith, tragedy, revolution, romance, and heroism and based on a novel of the same name by Ethel Voynich.

The motion picture tells a story of the underground struggle of Italian patriots against Austrian invaders for independence of their homeland. Against the background of these events is a tragic story of a man transformed from a pure heart and an enthusiastic young man to a ruthless revolutionary—the legendary and elusive Gadfly.

Soon after the release of “The Gadfly” in 1955, Shostakovich asked Levon Atovmian to create a suite of themes from the film. That suite is frequently performed by orchestras today, and the most famous part is the Romance and its iconic violin solo. 

Although remembered principally for his large-scale orchestral works and concertos, Dmitri Shostakovich’s output for the big screen was also prolific.

Why did I choose a violin piece to play especially as it has challenges with range for the flute.?

• I chose it because I believe it is only through playing melodies, we can find our true musical voice and identity. This results in versatility of tone, colours and expression.
• It was a fabulous exercise in the importance of key colour. It is usually played in G Major on the flute. For me the composer knows best, I played it in his original key C Major and adapted slightly because it sounded like a completely different piece in G Major, and it did not work for me musically in G Major.
• Looking for the qualities of a violin’s tone, expression and bowing fascinate me and that was a big driving motivation for me in learning and performing this piece. I literally had to feel myself sinking into the melody to get the warmth and finesse I wanted.

Here is the performance that captivated me to perform the piece. There is a deep warmth in the tone I wanted to explore on the flute.