Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Naxos / 2017

Shostakovich’s two Piano Concertos span a period of almost thirty years. The youthful First Piano Concerto is a masterful example of eclecticism, its inscrutable humour and seriousness allied to virtuoso writing enhanced by the rôle for solo trumpet. Written as a birthday present for his son Maxim, the Second Piano Concerto is light-spirited with a hauntingly beautiful slow movement. With the permission of the composer’s family, Boris Giltburg has arranged the exceptionally dark, deeply personal and powerful String Quartet No. 8, thereby establishing a major Shostakovich solo piano composition.

Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor for piano, trumpet & strings, Op. 35
I. Allegro moderato
II. Lento
III. Moderato
IV. Allegro con brio

Excerpt,Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68
III. Waltz. Allegro (Arr. B. Giltburg for Piano)

Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegro

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
I. Largo
II. Allegro molto
III. Allegretto
IV. Largo
V. Largo

“Boris Giltburg and Vasily Petrenko are a tight unit, the pianist’s dashing virtuosity and subtlety of touch matched by equally incisive interpolations from the orchestra.” – BBC Music Magazine *****

“Giltburg has all the agility, power and expressive intensity Shostakovich’s piano concertos demand, plus the temperament to negotiate their mercurial shifts of mood. Every phrase is imaginatively coloured or nuanced, and never out of gimmicky point-making, always because he has something worth saying. And he has found like-minded partners in the RLPO and Petrenko, who not only follow and support him superbly but also respond and provoke where appropriate.” – Gramophone

“The concertos [are] the main event, and Giltburg’s new accounts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in top form under Vassily Petrenko are first class…Rhys Owens is as fine a trumpet co-soloist as any pianist could wish for. In the gentler Second Concerto, written for the composer’s son, Maxim, the rapport between soloist and orchestra is a joy to hear.” – International Piano