Shostakovich, Dmitry - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Giltburg, Boris

Shostakovich's two piano concertos span a period of almost thirty years. The youthful first piano concerto is a masterful example of eclecticism, combining incomprehensible humor and seriousness with virtuoso composition, emphasized by the role of the solo trumpet. The second piano concerto, written as a birthday present for the composer's son Maxim, is light-hearted and features 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, thus creating a significant solo piano composition by Shostakovich.