A further store of Shostakovich bon-bons, lollipops, call them what you will (Suite No. 4 appeared just recently as fill-up to Jarvi's account of the Tenth Symphony—CHAN8630, 3/89). To recap on the background—it was the composer's old friend and colleague, Levon Atovmian, whose bright idea it was to re-cycle music from Shostakovich's earlier theatre scores—including the ballets The Age of Gold, The Bolt and Bright Streams: an attempt, no doubt, to promote the 'acceptable', 'accessible' face of Shostakovich at a time when the authorities were thirsting for his blood. Never mind that these earlier scores had virtually disappeared from the repertoire since Shostakovich's initial fall from grace in 1936; that their satirical handling of popular music idioms had once proved so contentious. No mention was made of the sources. And therein lies the irony.
Of course, it's precisely that cynicism, that 'subversive humour', that makes these tiny morsels so very tasty: illicit between-meal snacks when you are supposed to be on a diet. Each suite kicks off with a nicely fattened and somewhat vulgar waltz; there are those absurd polkas and galops liberally peppered with silly 'end-of-pier' trumpet and xylophone solos, grotesque oom-pah rhythms and rowdy military band choruses. There are the little musical jokes, the devilish modulations, the slightly off-centre harmonies; the mood is more often than not irreverent. J. Strauss II, Offenbach and Rossini would all have approved. In amongst the buffoonery is the occasional gem: the charming ''Elegy'' from Suite No. 3 is very sweet indeed and much enjoyed by the SNO's principal oboe (I like too the novelty of sustained vibraphone at the close); then there is the Adagio from Suite No. 2 with its extended song for solo cello (Timothy Waldon—excellent): Tchaikovsky looms large here—the climax suggesting one of his grander pas de deux.
All in all, then, plenty of 'entertainment' value the playing high on panache (much nifty tonguing from the trumpets and an agile wrist action from that overworked side-drummer), the recording big-boned and open in the Chandos manner, though in this instance I can't help feeling that a tighter and more immediate presentation might have proved more appropriate to the music.'