Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos; Solo Works Yuja Wang, Boston Symphony Orchestra & Andris Nelsons

• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35:
• 1 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35: I. Allegro moderato 06:04
• 2 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35: II. Lento 08:32
• 3 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35: III. Moderato 01:52
• 4 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35: IV. Allegro con brio 06:52
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102:
• 5 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102: I. Allegro 07:03
• 6 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102: II. Andante 06:06
• 7 Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102: III. Allegro 05:21
• 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87:
• 8 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: No. 8a, Prelude in F-Sharp Minor 01:07
• 9 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: No. 2a, Prelude in A Minor 00:55
• 10 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: No. 2b, Fugue in A Minor 01:18
• 24 Preludes, Op. 34:
• 11 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 5 in D Major. Allegro vivace 00:30
• 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87:
• 12 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: No. 15a, Prelude in D-Flat Major 02:51
• 13 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: No. 15b, Fugue in D-Flat Major 01:38
• Total Runtime 50:09

Info for Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos; Solo Works

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 May 2. The Andante from Piano Concerto No. 2 is available digitally from March 14, while the Prelude in A minor, Op. 87/2a will be issued on April 11. 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 was already released digitally as a box set on March 28, 2025.

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.”

“Yuja Wang is a truly extraordinary musician,” says Nelsons. “We are thrilled to share this recording as part of our complete Shostakovich box set with Deutsche Grammophon, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and I are immensely grateful to Yuja for joining us on this landmark project. Her joyful interplay with the BSO’s brilliant principal trumpet, Tom Rolfs, brings out the humor and pathos of the First Concerto, while she masters the cinematic sweep of the Second Concerto with effortless elegance and bravura. Yuja’s technical brilliance and boundless musical energy are a perfect match for the genius of Shostakovich’s music, which contains the breadth of the human experience in the twentieth century and beyond.”

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.

Yuja Wang, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Yuja Wang
Critical superlatives and audience ovations have continuously followed Yuja Wang’s dazzling career. The Beijing-born pianist, celebrated for her charismatic artistry and captivating stage presence, is set to achieve new heights during the 2019-20 season, which features recitals, concert series, as well as season residencies and extensive tours with some of the world’s most venerated ensembles and conductors. Season highlights include Yuja’s year-long “Artist Spotlight” at the Barbican Centre, where she curates and performs in four distinct events: the first London performance of John Adams’ newest piano concerto (premiered by her in Spring 2019) titled “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, which they take to Boston and New York City; recitals featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon and clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer; and she concludes the residency with a solo recital.

In autumn of 2019, she tours China with the Wiener Philharmoniker, presenting concerts in Macao, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Wuhan. The beginning of 2020 sees Yuja and Gautier Capuçon reuniting for a recital tour featuring eleven dates presented in Europe’s premiere venues, including the Philharmonie de Paris and the Wiener Konzerthaus. She then embarks on an extensive solo recital tour, appearing in renowned concert halls throughout North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, and the Het Concertgebouw, running from February to April.

Additionally, Ms. Wang will be the featured soloist with some of the leading orchestras of North America, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Andris Nelsons; the Toronto Symphony, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno; the San Francisco Symphony, led by Michael Tilson Thomas; and the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the musical direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Yuja Wang was born into a musical family in Beijing. After childhood piano studies in China, she received advanced training in Canada and at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman. Her international breakthrough came in 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and has since established her place among the world’s leading artists, with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings.

Yuja was named Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2017.

Andris Nelsons
is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. These two positions, in addition to his leadership of a pioneering alliance between both institutions, have firmly established Grammy Award-winning Nelsons as one of the most sought-after conductors in the world today.

Nelsons’ positions in Boston and Leipzig commenced in the 2014/15 season and February 2018, respectively. In Autumn 2019, Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig came together for three joint performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall. This ground-breaking alliance has since led to co-commissions, musician exchanges, and educational collaborations. In May 2025, the partnership will celebrate a further milestone when the Boston Symphony Orchestra joins the Gewandhausorchester for the Shostakovich Festival Leipzig, a comprehensive and globally unique celebration of the composer’s music, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Nelsons will conduct two performances of “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” and all major Shostakovich symphonies, including a joint performance of the “Leningrad” Symphony No. 7, featuring musicians from both orchestras. As part of the festival, Nelsons will also conduct the newly created Festival Orchestra made up of young musicians from the Mendelssohn-Akademie Leipzig and the Tanglewood Music Center, an educational institution which Nelsons has been leading as Head of Conducting since 2024.

Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig will begin their 2024/25 season with a European tour, returning, among others, to the Lucerne Festival, and culminating in the season opening at the Gewandhaus. A further tour in February and March 2025 will feature celebrated soloist duo Lucas & Arthur Jussen in concerts across Europe. Nelsons will conduct contemporary works by Gewandhauskomponist Thomas Adès, as well as new commissions by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural composer chair, Carlos Simon. The season in Boston, which marks Nelsons’ 10th anniversary as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will include a complete Beethoven symphony cycle, a residency at Carnegie Hall in New York, and a European tour to Riga, Vienna, Prague and Leipzig with all-Shostakovich programmes. Nelsons will also resume his guest appearances, including a four-week Asia tour with the Wiener Philharmoniker, consisting of 22 concerts in 10 cities across South Korea, China, and Japan. The tour will also feature several world-renowned soloists – including frequent collaborator Seong-Jin Cho. Andris Nelsons will further mark his return to the Berliner Philharmoniker in December with performances of Bruckner’s eighth symphony.

Andris Nelsons is an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon, a partnership which has resulted in various landmark projects with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Wiener Philharmoniker. Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra partner on recordings of the complete Shostakovich symphonies and the opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” – a cycle which has garnered four GRAMMY awards in the categories Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album. Furthermore, Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig recently concluded a critically acclaimed Bruckner symphonic cycle in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. Nelsons’ recordings of Beethoven’s complete symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker were released in October 2019. As part of the alliance between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsche Grammophon produced a celebrated 2022 release of Richard Strauss’ major symphonic works performed by both orchestras.

Booklet for Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos; Solo Works