Suite on Finnish Themes / Symphony for Strings, Op.118a / Chamber Symphony, Op.110b

"Dedicated playing and exemplary recording" (*** Penguin Stereo Guide)

Of composers who were actually born in the twentieth century, Shostakovich, in his best works, towers above the rest - with the possible exception of Benjamin Britten. His music is both profound and accessible, original in expression and yet very recognisably part of a grand tradition. In short, Shostakovich is a composer of such stature that the "sins" of his youth are a matter of public interest and comment. Late in 1939 Shostakovich was commissioned by the Leningrad Military District to orchestrate a suite of Finnish folk songs. The work seems not to have been performed at the time and lay forgotten. There is much that is unclear about the provenance of this work - matters dealt with in detail in the booklet - but in 2001 the Suite was given a first performance in the little town of Kaustby - a centre of Finnish folk music. (In this context we should not forget that Leningrad is but a stone's throw distant from Finland nor the fact that Shostakovich greatly admired Sibelius whose grave he visited on a trip to Finland.)
The Suite will naturally arouse interest even though it does not number among the more important of Shostakovich's works. But the supporting works, Rudolph Barshai's orchestrations of the 8th and 10th quartets certainly belong to the essential Shostakovich. Indeed the eighth quartet is the most performed of all Shostakovich's fifteen string quartets and has a wide following, not least in the orchestral arrangement which, as the title claims, really is a chamber symphony.