Shostakovich - Ballet Suite No. 3 - Part 4/6

Ballet Suite No. 3 (1952)

(I) Waltz (The Human Comedy)
(II) Gavotte (The Human Comedy)
(III) Dance (The Limpid Stream)
(IV) Elegy (The Human Comedy)
(V) Waltz (The Limpid Stream)
(VI) Galop (The Limpid Stream)

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Orchestra: Russian Philharmonic Orchestra

Ballet Suite No. 3 (1952) is derived from two sources. The incidental music for Pavel Sukhotin's 1934 production of Balzac's The Human Comedy yields the lively opening Waltz, a fetching Gavotte, which could almost pass as a mid-century reorchestration of Delibes or Messager, and an Elegy, whose main melody ranks among Shostakovich's most personable melodic inspirations. Before that, The Limpid Stream provides a Dance which recalls - or rather anticipates - the famous Galop from Kabalevsky's ballet The Comedians, as well as the final two numbers: a Waltz, which is the essence of the 'light music' aesthetic, and a Galop which propels the suite to a suitably energetic finish.
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