When Andrew Litton first conducted the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, back in 2013, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was on their music stands. It was a good match all round. Four years’ later the American became the ensemble’s principal guest conductor, and now they’re releasing their first SACD recording together, on BIS, the Swedish label for whom both parties already recorded.

 No prizes for guessing who’s featured on the disc. It had to be Shostakovich. But this thoughtfully curated program, captured in 2019 at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore, explores a side of the Russian composer that’s been rarely recorded. The title sums it up as ‘jazz and variety’: think the lighter side of Shostakovich. Across four suites, we dance into the worlds of café culture, Soviet agriculture, film scores and a football ballet (yes, really), making this disc delightfully varied to listen to.

First up is the Suite for Jazz Orchestra No 1 (1934), which although it plays fast and loose with the term ‘jazz’, sees Shostakovich exploring decidedly different emotional territory to his symphonies. Litton himself...