Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra (Shostakovich)

The Suite for Variety Stage 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.

For many years the "Suite" was misidentified as the "Lost" Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2" (1938), a different work that was lost during World War II. A piano score of the "Jazz Suite" was rediscovered and orchestrated by Gerard McBurney in 2000.

The order of movements given in the DSCH "New Collected Works" series is as follows:

#March
#Dance 1
#Dance 2
#Little Polka
#Lyric Waltz (in C minor and E flat major)
#Waltz 1 (in Bb major and A major)
#Waltz 2 (in C minor and E flat major)
#Finale

The "Suite" was first performed in a Western country on 1 December 1988 in Barbican Hall, London, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich.

The work was recorded by Riccardo Chailly conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1991, and released as part of "Shostakovich: The Jazz Album" (Decca 33702). (The recording erroneously identifies the work as the "Jazz Suite No. 2.") The order of movements on this recording is: March, Lyric Waltz, Dance 1, Waltz 1, Little Polka, Waltz 2, Dance 2, Finale. This recording of the Waltz 2 movement was employed on the soundtrack to the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film "Eyes Wide Shut", as the opening and closing title theme. The Waltz 2 has also found recent airtime in commercials for Sprint Nextel.

The third movement, Dance 2, was later re-orchestrated by the composer and used in his filmscore for "The Gadfly" (1955).