Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Boris Giltburg, piano
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Vasily Petrenko, conductor

About
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.
tracklisting
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
listen
Review
“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