YUJA WANG RECORDS THE SHOSTAKOVICH PIANO CONCERTOS WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND ANDRIS NELSONS
THE PIANIST JOINS THE BSO AND NELSONS AS THEY COMPLETE THEIR MONUMENTAL
SHOSTAKOVICH CYCLE AND COMMEMORATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMPOSER’S DEATH
RELEASED ON 2 MAY 2025, THE ALBUM PRESENTS THE COMPOSER’S PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2,
TOGETHER WITH A SELECTION OF HIS SOLO PRELUDES AND FUGUES
LISTEN TO THE CENTRAL ANDANTE FROM THE SECOND PIANO CONCERTO HERE
“IT’S AMAZING TO PLAY SHOSTAKOVICH WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY,
WHO RECORDED ALL THE SYMPHONIES. YOU KNOW, THEY JUST HAVE IT.”
YUJA WANG
14 MARCH 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — Deutsche Grammophon announces the release of Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos | Solo Works, featuring the electrifying artistry of Yuja Wang. The album marks the culmination of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s decade-long, GRAMMY Award®-winning Shostakovich cycle and is released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death. It showcases the star pianist’s performances with the BSO under the baton of its Music Director Andris Nelsons of Shostakovich’s two contrasting piano concertos – No. 1 in C minor and No. 2 in F major (“Yuja Wang … navigated both works with conviction and fearless technique” – Boston Globe). Also included are six of Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues for solo piano, works which have been chosen by Yuja from the composer’s Opp. 34 & 87, and which offer a more intimate glimpse into his pianistic world.
Recorded at Boston’s Symphony Hall by a team headed by legendary Hollywood producer Shawn Murphy and BSO lead recording engineer Nick Squire, the album will be released in standalone digital, CD and vinyl formats on 2 May 2025. The Andante from Piano Concerto No. 2 is available digitally from 14 March, while the Prelude in A minor, Op. 87/2a will be issued on 11 April. Yuja’s concerto recordings will also form part of the BSO’s comprehensive Shostakovich anthology, which contains all 15 symphonies, key incidental works, new recordings of the complete piano, violin, and cello concertos – the latter with soloists Baiba Skride and Yo-Yo Ma respectively – and the first commercial audio release in over 20 years of the composer’s only full-length opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The anthology is released digitally and as a 19-CD box set on 28 March.
Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor is a work brimming with youthful energy and sardonic wit. Composed in 1933, shortly after the completion of Lady Macbeth and during a period of relative personal tranquility, it represents a fascinating blend of styles and influences. Originally conceived as a trumpet concerto, it was eventually expanded by the composer into a double concerto for piano and trumpet, accompanied by a string orchestra. This unusual instrumentation, combined with Shostakovich’s characteristic humour and penchant for musical parody – here including sly references to Beethoven, Haydn, and even popular tunes – results in a work both virtuosic and playfully subversive.
The interplay between Yuja’s piano and BSO principal Thomas Rolfs’ characterful trumpet, backed by the vibrant BSO strings, is pure delight. As the pianist herself observes, “Every time I take it up, it feels like there’s another layer of dark humor to come out … there’s so much making fun of Beethoven, of Bach, of almost everything we know.”
Almost a quarter of a century separates the First Concerto from its successor – a period of immense personal and political turmoil for Shostakovich, shaped by purges, war and the resurgence of Stalinist repression. Such darkness is not however reflected in the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, composed in 1957 as a 19th-birthday gift for his son Maxim.
Yuja’s performance captures the light, often jokey mood of the outer movements – revealing, as she notes, Shostakovich’s “shy, kind of quiet, childish” nature – as well as the tender lyricism of the central slow movement. The BSO, under Nelsons’ assured direction, provides a rich and supportive backdrop that allows her nuanced playing to shine.
The album concludes with six works chosen from two sets of solo pieces: the 24 Preludes, Op. 34, influenced by Prokofiev and contemporaneous with the First Concerto, and the 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 of 1950-51 – a highly original 20th-century tribute to Bach. Yuja’s technical command and expressive range are perfectly suited to the demands of this music, bringing out the intricate counterpoint and emotional weight of these often overlooked gems.
Taken as a whole, this album is a testament to the deep connection felt by Yuja Wang, the BSO, and Andris Nelsons to this composer’s music, and a fitting culmination to a remarkable Shostakovich cycle.