The Suite for Variety Orchestra is a suite in eight movements by Dmitri Shostakovich. The work consists of a collection of movements which derive from other works by the composer. It is also named Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra, for example in Derek Hulme's Shostakovich catalogue. For many years the Suite for Variety Orchestra was misidentified as the lost Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2, a different work in three movements that was lost during World War II, the piano score of which was rediscovered in 1999 by Manashir Yakubov, and orchestrated the following year by Gerard McBurney.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for an orchestra of 2 flutes, an oboe, 4 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, a bassoon, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, a tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists, guitar, harp, celesta, 2 pianos, accordion and strings.
Movements
According to a note by the composer, any number of the pieces may be played, and in any order. The order of movements given in the New Collected Works of Dmitri Shostakovich series is as follows:
Background
The Suite was first performed in a Western country on 1 December 1988 in Barbican Hall, London, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, under the title Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2. The work was recorded by Riccardo Chailly conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1991, and released on a disc entitled Shostakovich: The Jazz Album. The movements on that recording were ordered 1, 5, 2, 6, 4, 7, 3, 8. Chailly's recording of the Waltz 2 movement was used on the soundtrack to the 1999Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut, as the opening title and closing credit theme, as well as in the A&E Network series A Nero Wolfe Mystery. 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 to the film The First Echelon. In fact, the greater part of the Suite for Variety Orchestra is recycled material:
The opening and closing movements are based on the "March" from Korzinkina’s Adventures, Op. 59.
The second movement was adapted from "The Market Place" from the film score for The Gadfly, Op. 97.
The third movement goes back to "Invitation to a Rendezvous", from The Limpid Stream, Op. 39 .
The seventh movement was adapted from the Waltz from the Suite from 'The First Echelon', Op. 99a.
