In the period 1949-52 composer Lev Atovmian arranged three suites from Shostakovich's film and ballet music, and from his 1934 Suite for Jazz Orchestra. He drew most of the items, however, from Shostakovich's ballet The Limpid Brook (1934-35). The Ballet Suite No. 1 consists of six numbers, five of which come from that light, colorful but somewhat vapid work.

The leadoff piece from the Ballet Suite No. 1, Lyric Waltz, was taken from the Suite for Jazz Orchestra. It is barely over two minutes, sprightly, energetic, brilliantly orchestrated, but with a theme that sounds overly familiar. The middle section maintains the frothy mood and when the main waltz returns, it brings a healthy measure of bombast. The second item here, Dance, has a subtitle, Pizzicato, and its plucked-string scoring at the outset and exotic theme combine to recall Grieg, a composer one would rarely associate with Shostakovich; yet the Northern flavors and stylistic fingerprints are there. Gradually the tempo picks up in the piece, and at the close Grieg comes back.

The next item, Romance is a sentimental, yet carefree dance whose theme on oboe has a charm in its simplicity and unpretentiousness. Polka is the next piece, and its exuberance and slap-stick sass place it among the better items here. Its zany quality at the outset and close, and the jumpy piano theme in the middle section combine to provide colorful sonic hijinks. Shostakovich may not have been at home in light ballet music, but this number surely argues against that assertion.

Waltz-Humoresque is the fifth of the entries here, and at nearly three minutes is the longest in the collection. It is delicate—dainty actually—having the color and mood of good cartoon music. It also hints at Strauss and Vienna and fantasy. Ultimately, this is charming music, if a bit simplistic and direct. Galop is a rollicking, rambunctious dance, and stands with Polka as the best music in the First Ballet Suite. There is nothing subtle here, but the music has an undeniable appeal.

This collection of dances is not among Shostakovich's more inspired creations. Some have condemned the group as cheap and bombastic. True, it cannot stand up to the ballet music of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, and often it does not even sound like Shostakovich. The composer's symphonies and quartets are almost as far removed from this music as that of Haydn and Beethoven. Nevertheless, it will have appeal to some, and does show Shostakovich's less serious side, a side hampered by restrictive Stalinist policies that occasioned the creation of music like this. A typical performance of this suite lasts about twelve minutes.



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