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Piano Concerto No 2

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Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (trans. Marco Pontini)


This work bears the designation opus 102.


General Info

Year: 1957 / 2012
Duration: c. 19:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Baton Music
Cost: Score and Parts - €196.00   |   Score Only - €47.00


Movements

1. Allegro - 7:45
2. Andante - 6:37
3. Allegro - 5:46


Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Piano
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Solo Clarinet I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-I
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Snare Drum

Violincello


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his second piano concerto in 1957 as a birthday gift for his 19-year-old son Maxim who premiered the piece during his graduation at the Moscow Conservatory. 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.

- Program Note from publisher


Gaining success as a composer in the late-1920s, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was to become stifled by the rising Soviet regime. Although his early works (beginning with the first symphony written in 1926) were well received and heralded him into the array of social realism, his creativity was quickly muffled by Stalin’s command. In 1936, an article titled “Chaos instead of Music” was published in the Pravda newspaper denouncing the recent successes of his opera Lady Macbeth. After the publication of this article, Shostakovich was forced to alter his musical style to avoid censurable scrutiny, all the while maintaining his artistic integrity though often disguised with subtle satire. His attempts worked mostly well, with one notable run-in with the Soviets in 1948; he and fellow composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) were condemned for promoting “formalist” ideals. The condemnation culminated in a three-day discussion where the “elitist” composers defended themselves against a panel of unrestrained Soviet aristocrats.

Only after Stalin’s death in 1953 did Shostakovich gain the musical freedom he undoubtedly desired. His compositions after Stalin’s death became more experimental, possessing humanist qualities and full of renewed enthusiasm he became a “revolutionary romanticist:’ It was during this post-Stalin period that Shostakovich wrote the Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 102. Created as a birthday present for his son Maxim in 1957 (who was nineteen years of age at the time of the premiere), it is a very lighthearted and comical work.

After a brief introduction by the double reeds and clarinets, the entry of the piano signals the start of the exposition. Soon after, the strings join to support the “drunken sailor” theme continued by the piano. This “drunken sailor” theme travels over some jarringly unexpected key areas before reaching a cadence in D-minor as the second and more serious theme begins. A brief transition leads us unexpectedly to the raucous development which begins with sudden fortissimo orchestral hits interspersed with arpeggiated octaves in the piano. Constantly moving to foreign key areas, ideas from the opening exposition are revisited. The development reaches its climax as the entire orchestra blasts its way toward the recapitulation with extra enforcement provided by the timpani. An extended piano cadenza leads to the return of the opening theme heard again in the woodwinds. Winding back to the home key of F-major, the first movement comes to a classical-like close with the common V-to-I authentic cadence.

- Program Note by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Ensemble concert program, 6 June 2014


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

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


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Perusal score
  • Shostakovich, D.; Pontini, M. (2012). Piano Concerto no. 2, opus 102 : Piano and Symphonic Band [score]. Baton Music: Eindhoven, Neth.
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