'The Great Lightning' is an unfinished opera sketched in 1932 by Dmitri Shostakovich of which he only managed to write the overture and 8 following pieces. They are enough to show us that 'The Great Lightning' would have been a sparkling and satirical piece about the visit of a Soviet delegation to a corrupt Western capitalist country. This surviving music shows the young Shostakovich in his most light-hearted mood. It is full of deft parodies and catchy tunes that vividly evoke the popular songs and dances of the 1920s and '30s. Dutch arranger Jacques Claessens transcribed three movements from the opera for Symphonic Band: 'Overture', 'Scene with the American' and 'The Procession of the Models'.
