Austin Symphonic Band Performing Shostakovich Jazz Suite No. 2

Austin Symphonic Band. November 5, 2023 concert at the Connally HS Performing Arts Center in Austin, TX. ASB performing Jazz Suite No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Johan de Meij). Music Director Dr. Kyle R. Glaser conducting. "Grand Structures" Concert. [For Program Notes, select 'more.']
00:00:00 March
00:03:04 Lyric Waltz
00:05:27 Dance I
00:08:38 Dance II
00:12:18 Waltz No. 2
00:15:41 Finale
Video and Sound Production: Eddie Jennings
From the program notes written by David Cross:
Jazz Suite No. 2 (1956, arranged 1994)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Arranged by Johan de Meij
March
Lyric Waltz
Dance I
Dance II
Waltz No. 2
Finale
Jazz Suite No. 2 is the title given to Johan de Meij’s 1994 arrangement of Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra. It consists of a collection of movements derived from other works by the composer and is also known as Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra.
It is thought that the Suite for Variety Orchestra must have been assembled by Shostakovich at least post-1956, because of the use of material from that year’s music for the film The First Echelon. In fact, the greater part of the Suite for Variety Orchestra is recycled material:
• The opening and closing movements (March and Finale) are based on the March from Korzinkina’s Adventures, Op. 59 (1940).
• Dance I was adapted from The Market Place (No. 16) from the film score for The Gadfly, Op. 97 (1955).
• Dance II goes back to Invitation to a Rendezvous (No. 20), from The Limpid Stream, Op. 39 (1934-35), which itself was taken from Mime and Dance of the Pope (No. 19) from The Bolt, Op. 27 (1930-31).
• Waltz No. 2 was adapted from the Waltz (eighth movement) from the Suite from ‘The First Echelon,’ Op. 99a (1956).
In 1994, a single of André Rieu and his orchestra performing Waltz II from the Suite for Variety Orchestra 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.
Fun facts about Dmitri Shostakovich:
• He was a perfectionist in music and in his personal life. According to his daughter, he was obsessed with cleanliness and kept his clocks in perfect synchronization.
• He loved soccer and was a certified referee.
• He is regarded as a great film composer, having written music for 36 films. Much of his film music, however, has been lost or exists only in fragments.
Listen for:
• March: A rollicking, joyous piece based on two contrasting themes.
• Lyric Waltz: A very danceable and floating Viennese-style piece with a lovely clarinet solo.
• Dance I: A lively movement with parts borrowed from Shostakovich’s Festive Overture toward the end.
• Dance II: A coy scherzando starting in 2/4, then shifting to 3/8, with a Romanian influence before returning to 2/4.
• Waltz No. 2: A recap of the Lyric Waltz, with solos by saxophone and trombone.
• Finale: A delightful bon mot with contrasting scoring of light woodwind and heavy brass and a final nod to the march that started it all.