Russian State Symphony Orchestra & Dmitry Yablonsky - Shostakovich: Jazz Suites Nos. 1 and 2, Tahiti Trot (2008/2014) [Hi-Res]

Although the symphonies, string quartets and concertos represent the core of his achievement, Shostakovich had wide sympathies across the musical spectrum: hence his oft-repeated comment that he enjoyed all music from Bach to Offenbach. All the works on this album – which opens with a suite from the ballet The Bolt (the scenario of industrial espionage is a pretext for music drawing on circus-like farce) and concludes with his orchestrations of Tea for Two – attest to a composer who entered into the spirit of ‘light music’ with enjoyment and enthusiasm.

The so-called Jazz Suite No. 2 (sketches for the original Jazz Suite No. 2 have only recently been discovered) is in fact the Suite for Stage Variety Orchestra, drawn from various ballet, film and theaters scores, with saxophones and accordion to the fore. The Second Waltz, recently found popularity as the title music for Stanley Kubrick’s last film, Eyes Wide Shut.

'Bring on the performing dogs! The Bolt may be a ballet about industrial espionage, but Shostakovich's music is an irresistible reminder of Russia's circus tradition. It's more distinguished than most music from the big top, bit still conjures up the sight of clown with ridiculously large shoes falling over each other.' (Martin Cotton, BBC Music Magazine)

'In no other composer I can think or - even those who, like him, dealt creatively with folk-song material...do I find quite the same combination of lyric awe and simplicity, of sardonic humour, grotesquerie and epic, of shared communal values, of long local traditions that span the ages and, above all, of humanity and nature totally involved with one another, and each being accorded their perfect balance.' (Calum MacDonald, International Record Review)

Russian State Symphony Orchestra
Dmitry Yablonsky, conductor

Recorded in October 2001 in the Moscow State Broadcasting and Recording House, Grand Studio 5
Produced by Lubov Doronina
Engineered by Aleksander Karasev
Edited by Pavel Lavrenenkov
2xHD Mastering by René Laflamme and Anne-Marie Sylvestre
2xHD Executive Producer: André Perry

Digitally remastered