Although both versions, the 1934 original version and the revised 1963 version, of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District are currently staged throughout the world, Shostakovich's widow seems to believe that the revised version, known as Katerina Izmaylova after the central character of the work, was the version of the piece favored by her husband, and she has made frequent efforts to promote that revision as the preferred version. To this end, she commissioned the composer Weniyamin Basner to create a suite drawn from the revised version as an advertisement for the complete version. Basner finished his work in 1994, producing an effective orchestral précis of Katerina Izmaylova.

The suite is in five movements: "Katerina," "Father-in-Law," "Night: Ghost," "Arrest," and "Exile (Prison)." The first movement depicts the heroine in her hauntingly beautiful Romance from Act I. The second movement depicts her brutal father-in-law with sarcastic music from Act I, scene 1, and the lustful music of Act II, scene 1. The third movement is an Adagio evoking Katerina's and her lover's fear upon seeing the ghost of the poisoned father-in-law in the latter portion of Act II. The fourth movement is a scherzo depicting the arrival of the clownish police force to arrest Katerina and her lover in Act III. The final movement is drawn from Act IV and features both of Katerina's beautiful arias and her final suicide by drowning.

Basner's Symphonic Suite from Katerina Izmaylova should not be confused with the orchestral suite that Shostakovich himself created, which was composed of the five orchestral interludes from the opera.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide