Shostakovich's Dances of the Dolls is a suite of easy piano pieces compiled in 1953 from his Ballet Suites, which were themselves compilations of excerpts from his ballets, film scores and incidental music. The Dances are charming miniatures in the style of his Children's Notebook, Op. 69, from 1944. The opening "Lyrical Waltz" comes from the Ballet Suite No. 2; the next three installments—"Gavotte Romance," "Romance Polka" and "Dance Petite Ballerina"—come from the Ballet Suite No. 1; and the last two miniatures, "Waltz-Joke Hurdy-Gurdy" and "Waltz Dance," come from the Ballet Suite No. 4.



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