DENIS MATSUEV/MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA. Shostakovich Piano Concertos (Mariinsky)
Here is 20th-century Russian music at its most charismatic. The two piano concertos of Shostakovich contrast the expansive grin of a 27-year-old composer in the flush of his first fame with the jaded smile of a 51-year-old. Young Russian pianist Denis Matsuev is masterful at overcoming the works’ many technical demands. He lends the piano forward-moving power while giving his overall interpretation smoothly rounded corners. Conductor Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra are magnificent in achieving the same kind of balance, giving the music weight without ever making it ponderous. The slow movements in both concertos are magical as they waft gently by.
The 1999 Piano Concerto No. 5 by living Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin is an odd and compelling mix of sweet and sour, slow-moving and rhythmic, muscular and effete, that makes a nice program closer for this album. The amazing buildup of the pianist’s tiptoe toccata in the final movement is a treat. Matsuev is in Toronto for an all-Russian solo piano recital at Koerner Hall on Sunday afternoon.
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