Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Jazz Suites, Ballet Suites, Concertos
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Steven Sloane
MDR Sinfonieorchester/Dmitrij Kitajenko
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Lutz Köhler
Gürzenich Orchester Köln/James Conlon
rec. 2000-05
Capriccio C7460 [3 CDs: 173]
Most of the works in this three-CD set come from the lighter end of Dmitri Shostakovich’s output. But there is lots of delightful, highly entertaining stuff here. He regarded this side of his music as a very important part of his work: it allowed him the relief of ‘letting his hair down’ away from the more heavyweight projects. Humour and parody are never far away. Shostakovich evokes the spirits of the members of Les Six, and occasionally even those of comparatively recherché figures like Jacques Offenbach and John Philip Sousa.
The recordings, twenty or more years old, have stood the test of time very well. Some might decribe the ensembles as the second rank of German orchestras, but they are all very good indeed! If nothing else, this issue reminds us of the extremely high standard of orchestral playing in Germany.
CD1 begins with what is often incorrectly described as Jazz Suite No.2, but is here given its authentic title: Suite for Variety Orchestra. It is diverting and enjoyable, and it includes the wonderfully schmalzy waltz which Stanley Kubrick used in the film Eyes Wide Shut.
Cheryomushki is a housing development in Moscow built in the mid-1950s. Shostakovich’s hilarious operetta Moskva, Cheryomushki tells the story of the various young people who come to live there. The suite included in this set is brilliantly witty, and the four movements are sheer delight.
There follows the Jazz Suite No.1 – its authentic name. Shostakovich was undoubtedly interested in the new American music that had been arriving in Russia since the late 1920s. The influence it had on him is obvious, but it has to be said that this music really has precious little to do with jazz. The scoring calls for instruments like the violin and the xylophone, and there is no element of improvisation or ‘Bluesy’ harmony. Putting that aside, the three movements, Waltz, Polka and Foxtrot, are captivating. The Foxtrot has an almost militaristic flavour, until a blissfully tipsy guitar solo lightens the mood. All this, as well as the famous Tahiti Trot based on Tea for Two, is played with great style by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin under Steven Sloane.
On to CD2, which opens with one of Shostakovich’s most hilarious scores, the suite of eight pieces from the ill-fated ballet The Bolt. This tale of industrial sabotage was taken off after one performance, and not seen and heard again until 2005. The overture begins with an intimidating side-drum roll with trumpet fanfare – a huge take-off of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. The whole suite is extremely funny and brilliantly inventive. If Shostakovich had ever been engaged to write music for the Tom and Jerry cartoons, you can be sure he would have given the great Scott Bradley a run for his money.
Speaking of which, next come six numbers in a suite written for the cartoon The Tale of the Priest and his Servant Baldar, another project which never really came to anything. The film, based on Alexander Pushkin’s tale, is lost, but Shostakovich’s music was discovered and published after the composer’s death – and is again pricelessly witty. The Procession of the Obscurantists is irresistible, and has already become a personal favourite of mine.
The final item on this disc is better known. The Golden Age is a ballet about a Soviet football team which travels to play in the West. It is faced there with, in the words of the booklet notes, ‘the golden youth of capitalism’. Shostakovich maintained that he took pains to contrast the wholesome Russian music with that of the decadent West. Well, maybe; in statements such as this, his tongue was often located fairly deeply in his cheek. At the same time, it kept the authorities off his back, even as early in his career as this.The irony is of course that the pieces with the obvious Western character – especially the famous Polka – are easily the most attractive numbers in the suite!
The performances on this disc are by MDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Dmitrij Kitajenko.
CD3 is given to two of Shostakovich’s concertos, the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, and Violin Concerto No.1. The pianist in the former is Thomas Duis, and the able co-soloist is trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich. I felt the beginning of the concerto was a little slow and deliberate, leading to a very obvious change of tempo when the main part of the movement got under way. I compared it with Shostakovich’s own 1956 recording (Revelation RV70006), and was surprised to find the composer’s tempo for the opening even slower. On the other hand, Duis and conductor Lutz Köhler adopt a very steady tempo for the central Lento, which I found generally a little too espressivo for the essentially cool temperature of the music. Shostakovich at the piano and his accomplice conductor Samuel Samosud allow the music, essentially a slow waltz, to flow more naturally.
But these things are, as always, a matter of taste, and the playing here is of such a high standard that I for one was musically convinced by their reading. And they certainly have a lot of fun in the finale, where the madcap Shostakovich puts in another joyful appearance. Friedrich’s contribution on the trumpet is exemplary.
The piano concerto, an early masterpiece, belongs very much with the theatrical and light pieces on the other discs. The final work of the set, the Violin Concerto No.1, is quite a different animal. Shostakovich composed it when he was, for the second time in his career, officially persona non grata. His ninth symphony had angered Stalin, who, dimly aware of the historical significance of symphonic ninths, had been expecting a post-war paean of praise for him and his victory over Nazism. Instead, he got a puzzling little work, which seemed tinged with mockery.
Shostakovich, as the Soviet Union’s greatest creative figure, took the brunt of the criticism that was aimed at many Soviet artists. He was driven, as it were, underground, so that most of his works of the late 1940s are chamber works for relatively private consumption. His largest product of the time was this violin concerto, which had to wait until 1955 – two years after Stalin’s death – to get the premiere by its dedicatee, the great David Oistrakh.
The soloist is the fine Russian violinist (later turned conductor) Vladimir Spivakov. The concerto starts with a thoughtful yet passionate Nocturne. Then, after a characteristically manic scherzo, the third movement begins with the solemn statement of a theme which becomes the basis of a Passacaglia, that is to say, a set of variations on a repeated theme, which resides for the most part in the bass. A deeply felt statement, at times reaching a tragic grandeur of expression, culminates in a cadenza of great emotional and technical intensity. Pounding timpani interrupt the cadenza to lead into the finale, a wild, breathless Russian dance. It is a fine recording, and the Gürzenich Orchestra of Köln under James Conlon make the most of their contribution. My only grouse concerns the recording balance, which places Spivakov unnaturally close.
I did not quite know what to expect when I received this box, but I have been hugely impressed and delighted by the variety and quality of its contents. We are at present commemorating the 50th year since Shostakovich’s death. It is very good to be reminded of the sheer breadth of his achievement: not just the great symphonies, but also some of the less celebrated works found here.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
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Contents
CD1
Suite for Variety Orchestra [formerly known as Suite for Jazz Orchestra No.2] (1938)
Suite from Moskva, Cheryomushki, op.105 (1957/1958)
Suite for Jazz Orchestra No.1 (1934)
Tahiti Trot (1927)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Steven Sloane
rec. 2004, Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany
CD2
Suite from The Bolt, op.27a (1931, revised 1934), compiled by Alexander Gauk
Suite from the music to the animated film The Tale of the Priest and his Servant Balda, op.36 (1934)
Suite from The Golden Age, op.22a (1930, revised 1935)
MDR Sinfonieorchester / Dmitrij Kitajenko
rec. 2005, Augustplatz Orchestersaal des MDR, Leipzig, Germany
CD3
Concerto No.1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, op.35 (1933)
Thomas Duis (piano), Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Lutz Köhler
rec. 1995, Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany
Concerto No.1 for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, op.77 (1947-1948)
Vladimir Spivakov (violin), Gürzenich Orchester Köln / James Conlon
rec. 2000, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
