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Shostakovich - Piano Concerto no.1, Symphony no.9 | BR Klassik 900202

Shostakovich - Piano Concerto no.1, Symphony no.9

£12.69

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Label: BR Klassik

Cat No: 900202

Barcode: 4035719002027

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 4th March 2022

Contents

Artists

Yefim Bronfman (piano)
Hannes Laubin (trumpet)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conductor

Mariss Jansons

Works

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Piano Concerto no.1 in C minor, op.35
Symphony no.9 in E flat major, op.70

Artists

Yefim Bronfman (piano)
Hannes Laubin (trumpet)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conductor

Mariss Jansons

About

"Increasingly, Shostakovich's music is captivating people all over the world and appealing to their deepest emotions. Almost like no other, it bears witness to a traumatic political epoch while remaining a timeless expression of existential human feeling and experience. For me personally," said conductor Mariss Jansons, who died two years ago, "Shostakovich is one of the most serious and sincere composers of them all." Now BR-KLASSIK is releasing two more outstanding performances by this important Soviet-Russian composer: his impressive Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra, and his Ninth Symphony – performed live by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Jansons, its long-time principal conductor.

Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto features impressive pianistic virtuosity, bold experimentation, satire, and caricatures of different musical styles. The composer wrote it in the summer of 1933, only a few weeks after the completion of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. He himself called it a "mocking challenge to the conservative-serious character of the classical concert attitude". This concerto in particular demonstrates the immense versatility and magnificent talent of the still carefree 26-year-old Shostakovich. He blends a wealth of musical thoughts and ideas into a colourful and fascinating kaleidoscope. Despite the wealth of different stimuli, the concerto does not seem chaotic or overloaded: the young composer effortlessly maintains the balance.

Shostakovich performed a similar (but this time highly dangerous) balancing act between creative work and conformity to the state in his Ninth Symphony, which premiered on 3 November 1945. Instead of the expected heroic, regime-conformist orchestral thunder along the lines of his Seventh Symphony, the "Leningrad”, the music heard here was playful, without pathos, somewhat witty, full of allusions – yet something did not seem quite right. This musical conundrum, full of ironic refractions and caricatures of melodramatic and triumphant music, was recognized by the censors as a masquerade, yet one that was not easily decipherable. Shostakovich had mocked Stalin without the latter noticing.

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