Despite being a prolific symphonist, Shostakovich only wrote two piano concertos. His first features a prominent solo trumpet part which provides dialogue with the piano and an independent voice “commenting” on the music of the piano and orchestra. The Second Concerto, by contrast, is more unified, and is unusually happy and optimistic in nature for Shostakovich.

Rodion Shchedrin has so far composed six piano concertos, each signifying a new phase in his compositional development, as well as a double concerto for piano and cello and a substantial corpus of solo piano works. His Fifth Concerto is influenced by the music of both Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

Since winning the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998
Matsuev has established a reputation as one of Russia’s leading pianists. Here, he joins Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra for his second release on the Mariinsky label.