Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 (Template:Langx) is a suite in eight movements arranged by Template:Ill after 1956, based on music by Dmitri Shostakovich.Template:Sfn An editorial error in the tenth volume of the Shostakovich collected works edition published by Muzyka in 1984 resulted in the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 being misidentified as the "Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2" or "Jazz Suite No. 2". The score was first published with the correct name in 2001.
Atovmyan, who arranged and assembled the suite, was a close friend of Shostakovich, and was regularly tasked with arranging concert suites of his film music. He also made numerous other transcriptions and arrangements, often without the composer's involvement and only his tacit approval. The Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 includes arrangements of excerpts from Shostakovich's ballet, theatre, and film music. It has not been precisely dated, but is believed to have been composed after 1956.
The first documented performance took place on December 1, 1988, at the Barbican Hall, played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly made a successful recording of the suite in 1991. In 1994, André Rieu released a recording of the suite's "Waltz II" that broke into the top 5 of the Dutch Mega Top 50 and sold over 50,000 copies. It was later included in the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
Misidentification
The Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 is often mistaken for the unrelated Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 from 1938.Template:Sfn This resulted from an error in an editorial footnote printed in volume 10 of the Shostakovich collected works edition published by Muzyka in 1984,Template:Sfn which misidentified the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 as the "Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2".[1] The editor-in-chief of the collected works edition, Konstantin Titarenko, inserted the footnote without informing his editorial staff. When Manashir Yakubov, the uncredited editor of volume 10's critical commentary, called to inform him of his mistake and demanded an explanation, Titarenko hung up.Template:Sfn
Background
Despite being commonly attributed to Shostakovich and based on his music, the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 was arranged by Template:Ill; a composer, arranger, and artistic administrator born in Russian Turkestan. They met at a meeting of Template:Ill, the All-Russia Society of Composers and Dramatists, in the early 1930s.Template:Sfn Atovmyan subsequently became part of Shostakovich's circle of close friends;Template:Sfn later, he was regularly entrusted with arranging concert suites of his film music.Template:Sfn In addition, Atovmyan also made transcriptions and arrangements of Shostakovich's other music.Template:Sfn Although made with Shostakovich's tacit approval and based on his music, Atovmyan's arrangements incorporated extensive alterations and newly-composed material.Template:Sfn
No manuscript score of the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 exists in Shostakovich's hand. Its instrumentation, movement arrangement, and generic titling of movements also do not correspond with Shostakovich's style.Template:Sfn No precise date for the suite's composition can be ascertained, but it is believed to have been composed in the late 1950s,Template:Sfn some time after 1956.Template:Sfn The unusual scoring, which includes three sections of violins and two pianos, suggests that the suite may have been assembled for a specific ensemble.Template:Sfn
Music
The Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 consists of eight movements:Template:Sfn
Each of the suite's movements is arranged from Shostakovich's scores for the ballet, theatre, and cinema. The first and last movements are based on the "March" from the 1940 comedy film Template:Ill;Template:Sfn the "Waltz I" is an arrangement of a cue that had been cut from the film. "Dance I" is based on the "Marketplace" cue from the 1955 film The Gadfly,Template:Sfn which is alternatively known as "National Holiday" in Atovmyan's concert suite of the film music. "Dance 2" is an arrangement of the "Invitation to a Rendezvous" number from The Limpid Stream, itself an arrangement of the number "Pantomime and Dance of a Priest" from The Bolt.Template:Sfn The "Little Polka", "Lyrical Waltz", and "Waltz II" are arrangements of cues composed for the soundtrack to The First Echelon; the first two cues had been discarded from the final version of the film score.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
A typical performance of the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 lasts approximately 20 minutes.Template:Sfn
Instrumentation
The instrumentation for the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 is as follows:Template:Sfn
<templatestyles src="Col-begin/styles.css"/>
|
|
The original score divided the violins into three sections. These were reduced to two in the 2001 New Collected Works edition of the score; this was accomplished by combining the first and second violin parts, which frequently played unison. Portions of the score's parts for two pianos were given ossia for piano duet. None of these changes resulted in any substantial alterations to the musical text.Template:Sfn
Premieres
The first documented performance of the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 was on December 1, 1988. It referred to as "Jazz Suite No. 2" and was played at the Barbican Hall by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. The performance was broadcast by the BBC on December 4.Template:Sfn The first recording was made in 1991 for Decca by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly.Template:Sfn
In 2001, the score was published for the first time.Template:Sfn
Reception
Nicholas Kenyon in his review of the Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1's premiere for The Observer wrote that the music was "Shostakovich at his most unbuttoned and jovial":[2]
The LSO played the Second Suite for Jazz Orchestra or Dance Band [sic] with its four blaring saxophones, accordion and guitar, as if to the manner born... The music is tripe, and not very well planned tripe at that—three waltzes in succession!—but Rostropovich lifted it along with such panache that it worked.[2]
He also called the work "fairly cynical pieces of writing-to-order".[2]
Chailly's Decca recording was a popular and critical success;[3] his recording of the "Waltz II" was included in the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.[4] Roger Covell in the Sydney Morning Herald praised Chailly's "elegantly played" recording and compared Shostakovich's music favorably with William Walton's Façade.[5]
In 1994, Philips issued a single of the "Waltz II" from the suite performed by André Rieu and his orchestra. It reached 5 in the Dutch Mega Top 50 and sold over 50,000 copies. The recording was included in the album From Holland With Love in 1996.Template:Sfn
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Cited sources
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links
- Boosey & Hawkes page for the score
- Boosey & Hawkes page for the 2001 New Collected Works edition
- Template:Trim Template:Replace on YouTubeScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Inoue Michiyoshi
- Template:Trim Template:Replace on YouTubeScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". by André Rieu and his orchestra