Shostakovich: Jazz & Variety Suites Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Andrew Litton

• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1:
• 1 Shostakovich: Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1: I. Waltz 02:22
• 2 Shostakovich: Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1: II. Polka 01:42
• 3 Shostakovich: Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1: III. Foxtrot 03:55
• Suite from "The Age of Gold", Op. 22a (1935 Version):
• 4 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Age of Gold", Op. 22a (1935 Version): I. Introduction 04:15
• 5 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Age of Gold", Op. 22a (1935 Version): II. Adagio 09:50
• 6 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Age of Gold", Op. 22a (1935 Version): III. Polka 02:16
• 7 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Age of Gold", Op. 22a (1935 Version): IV. Dance 02:17
• Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra):
• 8 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra): I. Waltz 02:31
• 9 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra): II. Russian Popular Dance 02:12
• 10 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra): III. Gallop 01:50
• 11 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra): IV. Adagio 07:07
• 12 Shostakovich: Suite from "The Limpid Stream", Op. 39a (Arr. K. Titarenko for Orchestra): V. Pizzicato 01:18
• Suite for Variety Orchestra:
• 13 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: I. March 03:02
• 14 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: II. Dance No. 1 02:56
• 15 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: III. Dance No. 2 03:14
• 16 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: IV. Little Polka 02:06
• 17 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: V. Lyric Waltz 02:16
• 18 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: VI. Waltz No. 1 03:21
• 19 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: VII. Waltz No. 2 03:39
• 20 Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: VIII. Finale 02:03
• Tahiti Trot, Op. 16:
• 21 Shostakovich: Tahiti Trot, Op. 16 04:30
• Total Runtime 01:08:42

Info for Shostakovich: Jazz & Variety Suites

Dmitri Shostakovich was the most versatile of composers: popular and serious styles came to him with equal ease and are frequently found together in the same work. In his twenties, before the heavy hand of Soviet officialdom slapped him down in 1936, music of every kind poured out of him: symphonies, operas and full-length ballets but also a great amount of music for film and theatre. Here Andrew Litton leads the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in a programme which explores this lighter side of a composer who is otherwise often regarded as unrelentingly serious.

The album opens with Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1, which Litton conducts from the piano. Consisting of three brief movements, it is the only truly original work on the disc, written in 1934 for a competition aimed at making ‘Soviet Jazz’ more respectable. The remaining suites are all reworkings of existing music, such as the ballets The Age of Gold – about the adventures of a Soviet football team visiting the decadent West – and The Limpid Stream, portraying a group of entertainers visiting an idyllic collective farm. The Suite for Variety Orchestra is a compilation that the composer made in the late 1950s from three film scores, a ballet movement and four piano pieces. Closing the disc is Shostakovich’s 1927 orchestration of a Broadway classic, Vincent Youmans’ Tea for Two, which had become a hit under the title Tahiti Trot.

Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton, conductor

Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Since its founding in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has been Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. The orchestra has earned an international reputation for its orchestral virtuosity, having garnered sterling reviews for its overseas tours and many successful recordings. The SSO performs primarily at the Esplanade Concert Hall, with more intimate works and all outreach performances taking place at its home, the Victoria Concert Hall. The SSO has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. In 2016 the orchestra was invited to the Dresden Music Festival and the Prague Spring International Festival. The resulting five-city tour also included the SSO’s return to the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2014 the SSO was invited to début at the 120th BBC Proms in London. Notable SSO releases on the BIS label include three discs of Debussy’s orchestral works, a Rachmaninov symphony cycle, the sea-themed anthology Seascapes featuring music by Debussy, Frank Bridge, Glazunov and Zhou Long, and the first-ever cycle of Alexander Tcherepnin’s piano concertos and symphonies. Lan Shui was the SSO’s music director from 1997 to 2019, and is now conductor laureate. From the 2020–21 season, the orchestra’s chief conductor is Hans Graf.

Andrew Litton
Born in New York City, Andrew Litton earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in piano and conducting. He is music director of the New York City Ballet, principal guest conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Music director laureate of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Litton led the orchestra for a period of 12 years (2003–15) during which it gained international recognition through extensive recording and touring. For his work with the orchestra, Litton was presented with the Royal Order of Merit by King Harald V of Norway. Other honours include Yale’s Sanford Medal, the Elgar Society Medal and an honorary doctorate from the University of Bournemouth.

Past commitments as a conductor include periods as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and a 14-year tenure as artistic director of the Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest. Litton regularly guest conducts leading orchestras around the globe. An avid opera conductor, he has led major opera companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Deutsche Oper Berlin. In Norway, he was key to founding the Bergen National Opera; he also often conducts semi-staged opera programmes with symphony orchestras. An extensive and wide-ranging discography numbers more than 130 recordings, which have garnered America’s Grammy Award, France’s Diapason d’Or and other honours.

Andrew Litton often performs as a piano soloist, conducting from the keyboard. An acknowledged expert on George Gershwin, he has performed and recorded Gershwin widely as both pianist and conductor and serves as advisor to the University of Michigan Gershwin Archives. In 2014 he released his first solo piano album, ‘A Tribute to Oscar Peterson’, testimony to his passion for jazz.

Booklet for Shostakovich: Jazz & Variety Suites