Our Recording of the Month features music by Shostakovich, but not, perhaps, as you know him. Some composers struggle to express a lighter side, but the Soviet giant was an all-rounder as this catchy new recording of music for jazz and variety ensemble attests (BIS BIS2472). American maestro Andrew Litton leads the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in suites that take a dive into the worlds of café culture, Soviet agriculture, film scores and a ballet about a Soviet footie team – I kid you not – making for a delightfully variegated listen.

On the Record

As Rebecca Franks points out, “Litton himself is the pianist for the band – and it definitely is a band rather than an orchestra, echoing 1920s German cabaret and Kurt Weill. The dance rhythms – waltz, polka, foxtrot – are utterly clear, every solo has space to shine, and the music often raises a smile.” Other music comes from The Age of Gold and The Limpid Stream, ballets which show more serious sides to the composer. It’s rounded off with Shostakovich’s famous arrangement of Tea for Two, which he wrote out by ear...