This release by the Russian-Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg stands out from the host of other recordings of Shostakovich's piano concertos by virtue of the two additional works on the album: arrangements of string quartet music by Shostakovich for piano, with the arrangements by Giltburg himself. First the good news: the concerto performances here are very strong. Especially attractive is the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, where Giltburg slows down enough to let the music breathe and seems cognizant of the ...
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This release by the Russian-Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg stands out from the host of other recordings of Shostakovich's piano concertos by virtue of the two additional works on the album: arrangements of string quartet music by Shostakovich for piano, with the arrangements by Giltburg himself. First the good news: the concerto performances here are very strong. Especially attractive is the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, where Giltburg slows down enough to let the music breathe and seems cognizant of the concerto's origins as a gift for the composer's son, Maxim. Giltburg is ideally backed by transparent textures from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Vasily Petrenko. Sample the irrepressible finale; it rivals the popular recording of this concerto by Leonard Bernstein in the 1960s and is perhaps even lighter in spirit. The piano transcriptions do not work as well. The little third-movement waltz from the String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68, transfers effectively with its motor...
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