After releasing the highly successful sets of Shostakovich symphonies (the award-winning cycle
of Rudolf Barshai) and the string quartets ( highly acclaimed performances of the Rubio
Quartet) this set presents the Jazz Suites Ballet Suites and Film Music. Shostakovich lived a
live full of tension and controverses in the Stalin era. As a modernist he was reprimanded and
threatened to be banned. As a sign of good behaviour he wrote music for mass audiences in a
popular style. But Shostakovich being Shostakovich he managed to suggest under the surface of
the sometimes nearly vulgar music his unique sense of bitter irony and revolt. The Jazz suites
enjoy a huge popularity. The Second Waltz from the first Suite gained world reputation through
the arrangement of Andre Rieu. The film music for the Gadfly is famous fir its Romance which
was used in a popular television series. Excellent idiomatic performances ( new recordings!)
by the Ukrainian Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar who have a reputation to lose in this
repertoire because of their vast discography for Naxos.
