This recording was made in co-operation with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation at Koncerthuset, DR Byen, Copenhagen, in April 2010 and April 2011.
Compositional Technique
The first movement of Cello Concerto No. 1 uses a speeded-up four-note motif from Shostakovich's film score for 'The Young Guard', specifically the 'Procession to Execution' scene.
Compositional Technique
Cello Concerto No. 2 incorporates a dance-like tune resembling the Odessa folksong 'Kupite bublichki' (Buy my bread rolls), a favorite melody of the composer's.
Compositional Technique
In the finale of Cello Concerto No. 1, Shostakovich included references to 'Suliko', a favorite folk-tune of the late dictator Stalin.
Composer Biography
Dmitry Shostakovich, the composer, suffered from a mysterious debility of his right hand, which was later diagnosed as motor neuron disease.
Composition History
Shostakovich originally thought his Cello Concerto No. 2 would be his Fourteenth Symphony, and he completed it during a recuperative stay at a sanatorium.
Composition History
Both of Shostakovich's Cello Concertos are dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, a thirty-two-year-old 'wonder-cellist'.
