Levitt Shostakovich

Rod Levitt - The Dynamic Sound Patterns Of The Rod Levitt Orchestra (1963) {Riverside OJCCD-1955-2 rel 2003}
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© 1963, 2003 Riverside / OJC / Fantasy | OJCCD-1955-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Small Orchestra / Trombone

The octet that trombonist/arranger Rod Levitt leads on this 1963 session was billed as the Rod Levitt Orchestra, which is a definite misuse of the word "orchestra." An octet is not an orchestra; it's a medium-size unit or, as Phil Woods would say, "a little big band." But even though Dynamic Sound Patterns isn't an orchestral project in the true sense, Levitt still gives the band a very big, full sound. There are eight musicians onboard – five horns and a rhythm section – but Levitt gives the illusion that he is leading a larger outfit, which speaks well of his arranging and bandleading skills.

Born in 1943 in the Latvian capital of Riga, Mariss Jansons grew up in the Soviet Union as the son of conductor Arvid Jansons, studying violin, viola and piano and completing his musical education in conducting with high honours at the Leningrad Conservatory. Further studies followed with Hans Swarovsky in Vienna and Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg. In 1971 he won the conducting competition sponsored by the Karajan Foundation in Berlin. His work was also significantly influenced by the legendary Russian conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky, who engaged Mariss Jansons as his assistant at the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1972. Over the succeeding years Mariss Jansons remained loyal to this orchestra, today renamed the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, as a regular conductor until 1999, conducting the orchestra during that period on tours throughout the world. From 1971 to 2000 he was also professor of conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire.

There's much more to Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues than meets the eye. Perhaps they make a deceptively arid impression upon casual sight-reading, yet pianists who commit themselves eventually discover far more variety of expression between pieces and consequently give cogent shape to the composer's subtle textural interplay. David Jalbert is both into and on top of these works, both stylistically and pianistically. For example, the E major Prelude stands out for Jalbert's finely honed legato touch and superb timbral integration of registral extremes. In his freely lyrical approach to the D major Prelude, Jalbert's phrasing distinctively characterizes the left-hand lines and right-hand arpeggiated chords. Also notice the pianist's asymmetric, harmonically aware accentuation of the B-flat major Prelude's rapid "flight of the bumble-bee" figurations and his ability to suggest the slower, more severe fugues' bleak sensibility without sounding lugubrious or bland. At the same time, Jalbert's secure technique enables him to wring maximum musical satisfaction from the thornier selections, such as his dashing, playful account of the D-flat major Fugue's quirky cross-rhythms.