Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor for piano, trumpet & strings, Op. 35

“He makes his case well. The First Concerto is all rampaging dissonances and erotic regret; the Second (1957) masks nerve-racking syncopations beneath its surface brilliance...[the sonata] a compelling performance in which logic and rhetoric combine with tremendous intensity.” The Guardian, 9th February 2012 *****

“Here, Shostakovich’s 12-note melodies take on a peculiar, tonal cast, and the work’s emotional trajectory is made utterly absorbing...Melnikov’s approach to the Concerto no 1 makes the work a breezier, more optimistic affair than usual. He’s right – despite the minor-key histrionics, this is a youthful, confident display piece, composed before the repression of the Stalin years.” The Arts Desk, 25th February 2012

“his lightning switches of tempo and mood in the fast movement outdo most competitors for bizarrerie...Melnikov includes a searing, thrilling account of Shostakovich's late Violin Sonata, Op. 134, in which he partners the very impressive Isabelle Faust...Unhesitatingly recommended as one of the best versions of all three works currently available.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 *****

“The hide-and-seek games between piano and orchestra in the first movement are delectable enough. But then the slow movement...to call this breathtaking would be an understatement. Starting at a whisper, Melnikov fines his sound down to the threshold of audibility and extends phrase-endings until the world seems to stand still...For me, this is Shostakovich-playing on a level of inspiration I have only heard in my dreams.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012

“I’ve never found Melnikov’s tone so pearly, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra’s strings have a discipline and suavity that are second to none. If you want Romanticism with a big R in the slow movements and plenty of fixed manic grins and wild funhouse careening elsewhere, this is as good as it gets.” Fanfare, 2nd September 2012

“everything comes easily together in Shostakovich's Second Concerto, where both soloist and conductor reveal the music's disarming meoldic wit in a relaxed, unpressured manner and deliver a heartfelt, touchingly inflected reading of the Andante that allows the cellos plenty of room to sing out.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“these new accounts of the two Shostakovich Concertos must be among the best currently available. He is brilliant and mercurial in the fast movements of both works, creatively negotiating tempo and style and bringing a sense of elan to the Second's outer movements...This unfamiliar coupling offers added value for any collector of Russian music.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ****

“As if to avoid shining too much limelight on the individual – hard in a concerto, by its show-off nature, but no doubt advisable in Soviet years – Shostakovich gives piano and orchestra well-balanced dialogue in two works for the medium, captured with nimble energy by fine young soloist Martin Helmchen and the LPO in this live recording.” The Observer, 20th March 2011

“Helmchen proves a deft interpreter of both, aided by Jurowski at his most engaging; and the outstanding performance of the weightier Piano Quintet (1940), studio-recorded with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, makes this a rare means of acquiring all three works on one CD.” Sunday Times, 10th April 2011 ****

“Helmchen gives a delightfully unaffected, affectionate and note-perfect account [of the Second Concerto], the orchestra bringing out militaristic and even nightmarish aspects. There is a real fizz to the outer movements ...Helmchen and the musicians from the LPO...give a full-on passionate relay of the first movement [of the Quintet], a blanched one of the second that seamlessly rises in intensity with real eloquence and conviction.” International Record Review, May 2011

“Helmchen shows himself adept in all aspects of No. 1's quirky humour and satirical modernism, No. 2's playful high spirits and - in the famous Andante - a nostalgic romanticism Rachmaninov might have been proud of...What makes this disc more special is a truly superb account of Shostakovich's Piano Quintet...this is one of the most impressive performances of the work that I've heard in recent years.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Helmchen's mission seems to be to strip away layers of learnt understanding around these often performed works - looking afresh at the material itself - which works well for the Quintet and Second Concerto” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 ****

“Hamelin earns a top recommendation here, and he’s sympathetically supported by Litton and the excellent Scottish ensemble … those looking for their first recordings of the Shostakovich concertos won’t go wrong with Hamelin” Fanfare

“Marc-André Hamelin is a superb advocate for all three pieces—the zip and zest of much of the writing presenting no difficulty to this extraordinary virtuoso” Gramophone Magazine

“…Alain Lefèvre, whose discography includes a number of other works by Mathieu, makes the best possible case for this attractive music, delivering a brilliant and flamboyant performance. Lefèvre, together with violinist David Lefèvre, also offers playing of great bravura and expressive intensity in Mendelssohn's youthful Concerto for piano and violin... in the Shostakovich Concerto. ...Lefèvre tends to emphasise the darker undercurrents of the score at the expense of its moments of biting sarcasm and uproarious humour.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ****

“…is a notable debut disc from a very talented player.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 ****

“Here's an excellent, multi-faceted programme which reflects both Shostakovich's madcap humour and his more "private", expressive side. A truly charismatic and exhilarating experience.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008

“This excellent disc, consisting of live performances from the 'Progetto Martha Aregerich' at the 2006 Lugano Festival, has a spontaneity and sheer pleasure in music-making one doesn’t often hear in Shostakovich.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 *****

“Argerich's 1994 DG reading of the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings is already a benchmark version among modern recordings, complementing the composer's own technically fallible yet still indispensable 1958 account. But now there is a more natural flow in the slow movement, some previously slightly forced rubati are smoother, and although the textures are a fraction more richly pedalled, as often needs to be the case for projection to a big audience rather than the microphone, there is no more than an infinitesimal loss of clarity. So if anything Argerich's playing has the tiniest of edges even over her former self. More decisively, Sergei Nakariakov brings an extra dash of wit and soloistic presence to the trumpet part, not to mention an astonishing feat of (circular?) breathing in the slow movement. There is a fraction more flair from orchestra and conductor too, while the recording brings everything further forward, so that the electricity of the playing crackles around the room.
The two-piano Concertino is a little piece of high-quality Gebrauchsmusik for the then 16-year-old Maxim Shostakovich son to romp around with; Argerich and Zilberstein give it a wonderfully characterful rendition.
Much of the Piano Quintet also emerges as one has only always dreamt of hearing it – vivid from moment to moment, yet with a long musical line and dramatic overall conception. Occasionally the nervous energy of the playing is too much of a good thing, as in the tricky bridge from Intermezzo to finale – from darkest profundity to deceptive easy-going cheeriness – and as in the piano's first statement of the fugue theme in the second movement. So, recommend ed alongside the safer Ashkenazy/Fitzwilliam recording rather than above it. As for the disc as a whole: a sure-fire winner.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Argerich's 1994 reading of the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings is already a benchmark version among modern recordings… But now there is a more natural flow in the slow movement, some previously slightly forces rubato are smoother… So if anything Argerich's playing has the tiniest of edges even over her former self. More decisively, Sergei Nakariakov brings an extra dash of wit and soloistic presence to the trumpet part... the Piano Quintet also emerges as I have always dreamt of hearing it - vivid from moment to moment, yet with a long musical line and dramatic overall conception.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2007

“Recorded at the 2006 Lugano Festival, Argerich's virtuosity is breathtaking. There's also a vivid, dramatic performance of the Piano Quintet.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2008

“Martha Argerich's summers at the Lugano Festival are reaping a rich harvest of live recordings for admirers of this supreme pianist. … This is live music-making of the most exhilarating order, benefiting from the intimacy of the setting as much as the skills of these peerless musicians” The Guardian

“Shostakovich's piano concertos were written under very different circumstances, yet together they contain some of the composer's most cheerful and enlivening music. The First, with its wealth of perky, memorable tunes, has the addition of a brilliantly conceived solo trumpet part (delightfully done here by Philip Jones) that also contributes to the work's characteristic stamp.
The Second Concerto was written not long after Shostakovich had released a number of the intense works he had concealed during the depths of the Stalin era. It came as a sharp contrast, reflecting as it did the optimism and sense of freedom that followed the death of the Russian dictator. The beauty of the slow movement is ideally balanced by the vigour of the first, and the madcap high spirits of the last. The poignant movement for piano and orchestra from the Suite from the 1951 film The Unforgettable Year 1919, 'The assault on beautiful Gorky', provides an excellent addition to this disc of perceptive and zestful performances by Alexeev. He's most capably supported by the ECO under Maksymiuk, and the engineers have done them proud with a recording of great clarity and finesse. A joyous issue.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The digital recording is in every way excellent and score over most of its competitors in clarity and presence. Artistically, Alexeev has more personality than his rivals, and he has the advantage of sensitive and idiomatic support from the ECO and Maksymiuk.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition