Verve Shostakovich: The Jazz Album

Amazon.co.uk Riccardo Chailly has proved himself adept in the highways and byways of Shostakovich's output. You really feel he enjoys this music, conducting it with relish and not a hint of condescension. Admittedly the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings has real pathos in its second movement to offset the brittle humour and high jinx elsewhere. Ronald Brautigam brings a Gershwin-like uninhibitedness to his performance, with Peter Masseurs incisive yet elegant in the trumpet part. The two jazz suites are peripheral Shostakovich, but great fun all the same. The Concertgebouw's resident jazzers would clearly give any professional combo a run for its money, especially in the lengthy Second Suite, assembled from film and theatre scores. Tahiti Trot is even more intriguing than it sounds: an orchestral transcription of the 1920s hit "Tea For Two", made in a matter of hours to win a bet. Its a far cry from Shostakovich as we tend to think of him, yet valuable for throwing light on the heady era out of which the mature composer forcibly emerged. --Richard Whitehouse