Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 is scored for a small chamber orchestra, omitting heavy brass and percussion used in his earlier works.
Johannes Moser, the cellist on this album, began playing the cello at age eight and studied with David Geringas.
Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 was inspired by Sergey Prokofiev's Symphonic Concerto for violoncello and orchestra.
This album is a production of Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, recorded in 2011.
Johannes Moser plays a cello made by Andrea Guaneri in 1694, which is part of a private collection.
Johannes Moser won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, receiving a special prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations.
Pietari Inkinen, the conductor, is also an accomplished violinist who studied at the Cologne Music Academy with Zakhar Bron.
