GRAMMY® Nominations 2026: Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Featuring
Thomas Rolfs
Yuja Wang
Andris Nelsons
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich
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Composition History
The two piano concertos by Shostakovich, considered the crowning achievement of his piano work, were composed twenty-four years apart.
Composer Biography
Shostakovich worked as an accompanist for silent films in the 1920s, becoming an expert at improvisation.
Compositional Technique
Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto, originally conceived as a trumpet concerto, evolved into a double concerto for piano and trumpet with a Stravinsky-like stripped-down orchestration.
Compositional Technique
Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues op. 87 were inspired by J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, adopting a similar formal design.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The First Piano Concerto's small scale and ironic intentions depart from, and even poke fun at, the tradition of blockbuster Russian Romantic piano concertos by composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich, like other twentieth-century Russian composers, excelled as a concert pianist, first studying with his mother and later at the Petrograd Conservatory.
Composition History
Shostakovich wrote his Second Piano Concerto as a 19th birthday present for his son, Maxim, who was a student and aspiring pianist.
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