Suite for Variety Orchestra (Shostakovich)

The Suite for Variety Orchestra is an orchestral suite by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The suite consists of eight movements, the other compositions are taken from Shostakovich. They probably originated in the second half of the 1950s.

For many years the work as the resultant 1938 and lost in World War II believed Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 was erroneously considered. From this, however, a piano score was rediscovered in 1999, so the Jazz Suite was listed in 2000 in reconstructed form. Since most of the recordings of the Suite arose before this discovery, the plant is referred to on many CDs with the wrong title Jazz Suite No. 2.

The work was premiered on 1 December 1988 by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, London.

Special popularity reached the Waltz No. 2 by the soundtrack to the film Eyes Wide Shut (1999) by Stanley Kubrick. Also in credits of this film, the plant will still incorrectly specified as a Jazz Suite # 2. Lars von Trier made ​​in his film Nymphomaniac (2014 ) is also of this waltz use.

Description of the work

The arrangement of the sentences varied in these recordings. In the following, the order according to the DSCH New Collected Works is reproduced.

The march and the final are the soundtrack to The Adventures Korsinkinis (op. 59, 1940, available only in parts ) taken from the Waltz No. 2 of the suite for the film The First Season (Op. 99a, 1956). The Dance No. 1 comes from the film music for The Gadfly (op. 97, 1955), and Dance No. 2 the ballet The clear stream (op. 39, 1934/35 ).

The movements of the suite have in their character on some stylistic similarities with circus and vaudeville music. Also in the instrumentation, typical properties of vaudeville orchestras such as the division of the violins show common in three instead of two vocal groups, as in symphony orchestras.