Simon Trpčeski, Cristian Măcelaru & Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava - Shostakovich: Piano Concertos & Piano Trio No. 2 - The Sunday Times

In his youth Shostakovich was a fine pianist, and his 1933 Piano Concerto — conceived as a work for solo trumpet — was a party piece until injury forced him to give up playing. Its successor, premiered in 1957, was written for his son, Maxim, and its affectionate pastiche and parody is worlds apart from No 1, inspired by earlier works by Ravel, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Trpceski dazzles with his technical bravura and sly wit in No 1, and with his singing legato in No 2’s Andante. The masterpiece here is the E minor Piano Trio, a brooding work written towards the end of the Second World War in which Shostakovich’s empathy with Jewish dance music emerges in the coruscating finale. The orchestra and the string soloists Aleksandar Krapovski and Alexander Somov contribute vividly to this outstanding release.