March 26, 2007
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Shostakovich wrote his second piano concerto in 1957 as a
birthday gift for his 19-year-old son Maxim, a pianist. The piece is full of a
light-hearted energy that may owe as much to the composer’s relief at the
demise of Stalin as to his cheerful wishes for his son. The eager, brilliant
tone and brisk tempos coupled with repeated notes similar to a bugle’s call in
the first and third movements are likely the reason for the Disney artists
having chosen to use excerpts from this concerto in the “Steadfast Tin Soldier”
segment of the recent movie Fantasia 2000.The piece avoids traditional
virtuosity, perhaps to best display Maxim’s particular talents, and downplays
the opposition of soloist and orchestra in favor of constantly passing theme and
variation between both. Only strings, piano, and
a single horn are heard in the second movement, Andante, in its soulful sound. Exchanging tender, lyrical lines, the right hand piano
part singing a plangent tune above slow arpeggios in the left. There are no
fireworks, only the sort of longing melody one associates with Russian composers
of an earlier, more romantic era.Barbara Heninger, on Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2
