Terrific stuff.

Shostakovich’s work for piano duet and duo may be of lower profile than his symphonies, string quartets and solo piano repertoire, but still contains some of his finest music. Recordings have emerged from the Northern Flowers label and elsewhere, but this Toccata Classics set seeks to go a considerable step further. Shostakovich’s routine habit for his orchestral works was to make a transcription for piano four hands, so that the music could be ‘tried out’, not only for his own use, but so that Communist Party officials could hear for themselves and decide if a new work was suited to the ideals of the party and therefore appropriate for public performance. This version of the Symphony No.9 was therefore almost certainly written alongside the orchestral score. The work was famously supposed to be a massive celebration of victory over the Nazis in 1945, but turned out to have an entirely different character. The piano duet version of this piece is a highlight of this disc as you might expect, and with an excellent performance and recording the work takes on an entirely new life in this setting. In short, it ‘works’ as a piano piece, with only a few passages during the slower movements and the extended build-up towards the end of the final movement where the sustaining quality and colourful impact of orchestral instruments are missed to a certain extent. Right from the moment where Vicky Yannoula and Jakob Fichert hammer out the accompaniment and bring out that witty theme at 0:48 into the first movement we know we’re in for a treat. Much of the music has been described as ‘Haydnesque’ or indeed light and bouncy in nature, at times bringing the nervy rhythms of Prokofiev to mind, and this is something which makes it sound as if written for the piano. The clarity of the bass lines, the variety of ‘oom-pah’ rhythms driving on terrifically and the exposed nature of the harmonies all work in excellent fashion, and the whole thing is a discovery and a feast for Shostakovich fans.
 
Lighter works and arrangements are of course part of the Shostakovich piano canon, and the waltz and polka numbers here are ‘pop’ pieces which entertain but needn’t delay us too long. Malcolm MacDonald’s booklet notes go into the origins of these pieces in some detail. That Polka from the Ballet Suite No. 2 is perhaps the most familiar, and as a litmus test shows how much fun the Yannoula and Fichert duo can make of these minor works. ‘The Chase’ from the film score to Korzikana’s Adventures is a magnificently daft romp.
 
For the works with two pianos we get a still very good but slightly different recorded perspective, and there are one or two minor tuning issues – a twangy effect in one of the upper notes with the piano already used for the duet pieces, and between the two instruments on occasion. Have a listen at 1:47 on the opening movement of the Suite and you’ll hopefully hear what I mean. These are actually quite minor issues, but can’t be left unmentioned. The Suite Op.6 is Shostakovich’s earliest surviving two-piano work, and pregnant with the emotions surrounding the sudden death of Dmitri’s father in February 1922. The chiming bells and romantic overtones are very nicely played here, placed effectively in Shostakovich’s early idiom, performed with warm sonority and without too much stretching of the phrases in the beautiful Nocturne, and conveying all of the rhythmic verve of the swifter movements.
 
The Concertino is a later work, written for Shostakovich’s son Maxim and having some of the character of his second Piano Concerto which was to come a few years later. This work has if anything the most orchestral character of all the pieces here, and the duo builds up huge volumes of sound in a highly effective performance.
 
With some fascinating piano duet versions of Shostakovich’s symphonies to look forward to this promises to be a series to collect. None of the performances here disappoint, the recording standard is high, and Vicky Yannoula and Jakob Fichert have the measure and spirit of all of this music very much at their fingertips.
 
-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

This is a brilliant recital, one that reveals just about every facet of Shostakovich's musical personality in terms of his writing for piano. The novelty for most listeners will be Dances of the Dolls, yet another arrangement of numbers from his film and ballet music, aimed at younger players. Somehow these tunes sound even more charming and witty in their keyboard guise, and Melvin Chen's clean and rhythmically snappy approach lets their puckish humor speak for itself. Both the Aphorisms and the First Sonata reveal the young, modernist Shostakovich, the latter work in particular. Once again Chen manages to give shape and meaning to music that can sound merely noisy, but he does it without sacrificing the music's aggressiveness or impetuosity.

With the Second Sonata we encounter the mature composer around the time of the Second World War, when he was creating some of his finest large works. This sonata never has caught on, partly on account of its typically spare textures, but more likely because it's a very large work (nearly 30 minutes) that ends quietly and enigmatically. Certainly it does not sound in any way lacking in content here. Chen keeps the music interesting, particularly in the long variation finale, which has plenty of contrast and seems perfectly paced. This is music that, given time and a fine performance like this one, will grow on you. So if you like Shostakovich but have not yet warmed to his piano music, try this superbly played and recorded CD. I suspect it will win you over.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

2009 two CD release. The recordings contained in this set of Shostakovich's Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies were all made soon after the first performances of each work, and have an authenticity as well as a musical immediacy that later recordings inevitably have lacked, good as they may be. These recordings stand as unique sound documents in the history of the interpretation of Shostakovich's music. In addition they testify to Stokowski's own personal style as an interpreter of this composer's works. Shostakovich held Stokowski in high esteem as an exponent of his music.

Over the years the Brodsky Quartet has undertaken numerous performances of the complete cycle of quartets by several composers. It is, however, the complete Shostakovich cycle that has become synonymous with its name: its 2012 London performance of the cycle resulted in its taking the prestigious title of ‘Artist in Residence’ at the city’s Kings Place. One of the most rewarding aspects of performing the cycle is the way in which it seems to pan out so naturally and perfectly. To be aware that Shostakovich had intended to write twenty-four quartets, one in every key, but ended up with these fifteen thereby creating a unique musical journey that feels predestined and all-encompassing, makes one think that there really must be a greater force at work. The Quartet now adds to its famed discography this remarkable release, recorded live at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw.

Clarity and truth were the words I used to describe the original Chandos sound, and here it strikes me as even more vivid. I particularly enjoyed the wide range of dynamics and colour emanating from the keyboard without a trace of clanginess in the treble or boxiness in the bass. The playing of this huband-and-wife duo cannot be overpraised throughout the whole programme, which is all to the good since according to the current catalogues none of the three works is now otherwise generally available in the UK. The journey starts darkly: Shostakovich's late sonata plainly did not come from a happy mind. But Schnittke's piquant Shostakovich-influenced Violin Sonata No. 1 progressively lightens the gloom, before his whooly winning retreat into the musical past. Pastiche this last work may be, but the product of a very knowing craftsman all the same.

-- Joan Chissell, Gramophone [4/1985]

In the wake of violinist Lydia Mordkovitch’s untimely death in 2014, Chandos has reissued and remastered several of her best recordings for the label, including this 1989 coupling of both Shostakovich violin concertos. The performances remain outstanding on every level.

It’s easy to slight No. 2’s often austere countenance and relatively sparse textures in favor of No. 1’s wider range of moods, textures, and greater surface virtuosity, yet Mordkovitch proves just as compelling and committed as her mentor David Oistrakh. If anything, she surpasses him in the brooding Adagio, where her slightly slower basic tempo, expressive discretion, and mesmerizingly controlled long legato lines grip you from start to finish. One might prefer a more incisive and playful approach to the Allegro finale, yet here the slippery thematic exchanges between soloist and orchestra convey a sense of gravitas and symphonic integrity that build to overwhelming climaxes.

These qualities also reveal themselves in the First concerto’s great third-movement Passacaglia, where the Scottish brass section achieves a smooth collective blend that still projects the music’s ferocity, matched by Mordkovitch’s perfectly tuned high sustained notes and octaves that both pierce and speak at the same time. Both Mordkovitch and Järvi revel in the Burlesque’s bleak brio and in the Scherzo’s rapid-fire chamber interplay, while the long first movement’s gloomy trajectory unfolds with carefully gauged dynamics and balances, from the low-lying woodwind rumbles to the ethereal celesta and harp intertwining at the end. Chandos’ resonant ambience closely approximates concert hall realism, especially if you’re listening via excellent quality loudspeakers or headphones.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com