Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos, Solo Works

This year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death, Andris Nelsons and the BSO conclude their award-winning decade-long Shostakovich Project by presenting their acclaimed Shostakovich symphony cycle. This Grammy-winning exceptional anthology also contains brand-new recordings by pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Baiba Skride and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the concertos, while the Lady Macbethcast is headed by Kristine Opolais, Brenden Gunnell, Peter Hoare and Günther Groissböck. Before that last symphony recording was made, plans were already in place to expand the project with readings of the composer’s six concertos. Benefiting from the superb audio quality achieved in the exceptional acoustic of Boston’s Symphony Hall, 

Yuja Wang here gives characteristically dynamic and expressive performances of his two contrasting piano concertos, written 24 years apart, with the BSO’s principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs playing the obbligato trumpet part in the First. The new album also features 6 solo piano pieces from Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 and Op. 34.