The Score -- Shostakovich's View

A ballet, just like an opera, should be staged using the actual score and not an "imaginary one". Furthermore, in the choreographic world the approach to ballet music is still rather like the approach to a '"semi-finished" product at a factory, that is not deserving of any particular respect. . . . Respect for the composer's work should be the first commandment for interpreters, be they choreographer, producer, conductor or designer.  No distortions of the composer's text must be allowed; that is a rigid rule.  And, of course, the ballet cannot be an exception in this instance. [fragment from an unpublished letter from Shostakovich]

"The Golden Age: The True Story of the Première" by Manashir Yakubov in Shostakovich Studies edited by David Fanning. 1995. Pages 203-4.