MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Support us financially by purchasing this from

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Piano Sonata no.1, op.12 [12:21]
Concerto for piano, trumpet and strings (Piano Concerto no. 1) op. 35 [21:40]
Piano Sonata no.2, op.61 [26:42]
Piano Concerto no.2, op.102 [19:01]
Peter Donohoe (piano)
Orchestra of the Swan/David Curtis
rec. 2015/16, Malvern Theatre (Concerto no.1), Cheltenham Town Hall (Concerto no.2), Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Suffolk (Sonatas)
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD493 [79:45]

An intriguing programme has been put together for this issue, consisting of Shostakovich’s four most substantial works for piano, namely the two solo sonatas and the two concertos.

The latter are both popular (especially no.2 thanks to Classic fm), but the sonatas are heard much less often.

Sonata no.1 is a remarkable work; written in 1926 when Shostakovich was still a student, it is a powerful, in some places brutal work, which, in its percussive use of the piano, owes something to early Bartók. Only twelve minutes long and in a single movement, it packs quite a punch, and Peter Donohoe turns in a stunning performance, relishing the required assaults on the lower reaches of the keyboard.

The second Sonata was composed in 1943, between the monstrous 7th and 8th Symphonies, and is dedicated to the memory of Shostakovich’s favourite piano teacher, Leonid Nikolayev. It doesn’t have the same untamed use of keyboard sonorities as the first, but is a much more spacious and extended work. There are also instances, particularly in the Allegretto first movement of the same faux naďveté that one frequently finds in the string quartets of this phase of his career. The Largo contains passages of spooky nocturnal perambulation, while the finale begins with an unaccompanied right-hand melody that I half expected to be treated as a fugue – it never really is – reminding me that the composer’s next work for the piano was indeed the 24 Preludes and Fugues of 1950. This movement is easily the longest – getting on for the length of the other two put together – and also the most complex, but such is Donohoe’s concentration and responsiveness to the shifting mood and character of the music that the somewhat disparate structure holds together convincingly.

The Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings (better known as Piano Concerto no.1) has always been amongst my favourite early Shostakovich works. It abounds with that enfant terrible abrasiveness, but also contains the gorgeously beautiful slow waltz that characterises the middle movement. Then there’s the madcap finale, with its cheeky trumpet tune and Keystone Cops conclusion. Donohoe is again superb, but so also is the Orchestra of the Swan under David Curtis. There is a fine cutting edge to the playing, with the tightest possible ensemble and – here the excellent recording comes into its own – a perfect balance between soloist and orchestra.

The same is true of the Second Concerto, with for me, ideal tempi. Some might find the Andante a little on the slow side, but this speed gives the music space and allows it to dream. In this same movement, I was interested to find Donohoe unashamedly Romantic in his shaping of the phrases. This is, I’m convinced, as it should be; Shostakovich is surely indulging in a little nostalgic pastiche here, and there is no point in apologising for it!

A deeply satisfying disc, well complemented by Daniel Jaffé’s lucid booklet notes.

Gwyn Parry-Jones

Previous review: Dan Morgan

 

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing