Concertino (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (orch. Kenneth Singleton)

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This work bears the designation Opus 94.

General Info

Year: 1953 /
Duration: c. 9:14
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Two pianos
Publisher: Unknown
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown

Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Shostakovich wrote his Concertino, Op. 94, for two pianos in 1954, shortly after the completion of his 10th symphony. It was first performed by his 16-year-old son, Maxim (now a noted conductor) and a classmate, and subsequently recorded by father and son, whose performance tempi are reflected in this transcription. Sections of the Concertino may remind the listener of the composer’s Festive Overture, which was written in the same year.

This orchestration is by Kenneth Singleton.

- Program Note by orchestrator

Dmitri Shostakovich struggled famously under the yoke of Josef Stalin and the Soviet cultural apparatus. His symphonies, still immensely popular in today’s concert halls, display his ability to communicate in his own voice while managing the expectations of the regime. He wrote his Concertino for Two Pianos the year after Stalin’s death, while much of the Soviet Union experienced a welcome thaw of the cultural oppression. Shostakovich gifted the Concertino to his son Maxim, a 25-year-old piano student. Father and son recorded the piece together in 1956.

The Concertino begins with two contrasting motives: one ominous, the other calm and hymnal. After the serious introduction, the music becomes light-hearted and dance-like, perhaps reflecting a bit of the optimism of the time. The piece was transformed from music for two pianists to music for a full concert band by Dr. Kenneth Singleton, currently [2015] professor of music and director of bands at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Dr. Singleton has fashioned a fine piece for band from this lesser-known work of a twentieth-century master.

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 11June 2015

Media

• Audio CD: Reference recording. Illinois State University Edwardsville Wind Symphony (John Raymond Bell, conductor) – 2006

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Butler University (Indianapolis, Ind.) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Michael J. Colburn, conductor) - 2 March 2022 (87th Annual ABA National Convention)
• Butler University (Indianapolis, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Michael J. Colburn, conductor) - 3 October 2021
• U.S. Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Ryan Nowlin, conductor) – 11 June 2015

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)

All Wind Works

• Allegro from "Symphony No. 10" (tr. Fisher) (1954/2010)
• Ballet Suite #4 (arr. Pappajohn) (1953)
• Batterie from "The Nose" (arr. Schaefer) (1928/1978)
• Concertino (orch. Singleton) (1953/)
• Dance I. See: Jazz Suite No. 2
• Ein Volksfest (arr. Rembach) (1955/1995)
• Ein Volksfest. See: Folk Festival
• Excerpts from "Symphony No. 5" Finale (arr. Longfield) (1937/2007)
• Festive Overture (arr. Frost) (1954/2016)
• Festive Overture (tr. Hunsberger) (1954/1965)
• Festive Overture (tr. Martin) (1954/2016?)
• Festive Overture (tr. Patterson) (1954/)
• Festive Overture (tr. Takahashi) (1954/1998)
• The Fire of Eternal Glory (tr. Timothy Rhea) (1960/2011)
• Fire of Eternal Glory (arr. Curnow) (1960/2011)
• Folk Dances (tr. Reynolds) (1942/1979)
• Folk Dances (arr. Erickson) (1942/1979)
• Folk Dances (arr. Curnow) (1942/2000)
• Folk Festival (tr. Hunsberger) (1955/1971)
• Folk Festival. See also: Ein Volksfest
• Fortinbras March from "Hamlet" (tr. Suchoff) (1932/1967)
• The Gadfly (1955/)
• The Gadfly (tr. Patterson) (1955/)
• Galop (tr. Hunsberger) (1959/1971)
• Galop (from "The Limpid Stream") (tr. Miller) (1935)
• Hamlet Suite (tr. Suchoff) (1964/1975)
• Intermezzo (arr. Cahn) (1928/1986/1994)
• Jazz Suite No. 1 (1934)
• Jazz Suite No. 2 (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
  • March (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
  • Lyric Waltz (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1995)
  • Dance I (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
  • Dance II (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
  • Waltz No. 2 (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
  • Finale (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
• March (arr. Curnow) (2014)
• March (arr. de Meij). See: Jazz Suite No. 2
• March of the Soviet Militia (ed. Iakubov) (1970/2006)
• October, Op 131 (arr. Mitchell) (1967)
• Overture on Russian and Kirg (arr. Janssen)
• Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Songs (tr. Duker) (1963/1989)
• Overture to "The Gadfly" (arr. Geert Flik) (1955/2006)
• Piano Concerto No 2 (tr. Pontini) (1957/2012)
• Piano Concerto No 2 in F Major (arr. Bamonte)
• Piano Trio No. 2 (arr. Graham)
• Priest and His Servant Balda, The (1934)
• Prelude, Op. 34, No. 14 (arr. Reynolds) (1988)
• Prelude 21 and Fugue 1 (arr. McCullough) (1952/)
• Prelude (Variations) from "Ballet Suite No. 4" (arr. Blankenship) (1953/)
• Romance (arr. Peel) (1955/1985)
• Spanish Dance from "The Gadfly" (arr. Curnow)
• Suite for Jazz Orchestra no. 1. See: Jazz Suite No. 1
• Symphony No. 1 (tr. Scarbrough) (1924-25)
• Symphony No. 5, Mvmt I (tr. Schaeffer)
• Symphony No. 5, Mvmt II (tr. Smith) (1937/1944)
• Symphony No. 5: Finale (tr. Righter) (1937/1947)
• Symphony No. 5, Mvmt IV (tr. Rogers) (1937/2003)
• Symphony No. 5, Mvmt IV (tr. Bocook) (1937/2005)
• Symphony No. 9 (arr. Mertens and Suykerbuyk) (1945/1986)
• Symphony No. 9 (tr. Schaefer) (1945/1976)
• Symphony No. 10, Mvt. II (tr. Fisher) (tr. Fisher) (1954/2010)
• Symphony No. 10, Mvmt II (tr. O'Brien) (1954)
• Symphony No. 11: Second Movement Excerpts (arr. Daehn) (1957/1989)
• Tahiti Trot (tr. Brubaker) (1927/2009)
• Three Symphonic Preludes (arr. Reed)
• Two Scarlatti Pieces (1928)
• Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)
• Waltz No. 2 (arr. Connery) (post 1956/1996)
• Waltz No. 2 (arr. Curnow) (post 1956/2010)
• Waltz No. 2 (arr. De Meij). See: Jazz Suite No. 2

Resources

None discovered thus far.