Shostakovich's first and second piano concertos were coupled with Tchaikovsky's third symphony in the exciting continuation of the LSO's complete Tchaikovsky cycle, under their principal conductor, Valery Gergiev.
The concerto for trumpet, piano, and strings (Op. 35) was written in 1933, with Shostakovich playing the piano part at its première in the same year. Shostakovich's own playing was characterised by its 'anti-sentimental' approach, eschewing rubato and extreme dynamic contrasts. To this end, Yefim Bronfman as soloist provided an accordingly matter-of-fact rendition in both tone and shape, allowing this music to speak plainly. Indeed, it was this understatement and apparent effortlessness that defined the evening's music-making.
To talk of this work as a double concerto would be misleading: it is a piano concerto with an obbligato trumpet part, and in many ways, this must make it all the more demanding for the brass soloist. Instead of having an equal share of the platform, they must wait – at times for minutes on end – whilst cascades of notes fall from the piano. And then, unfazed by their virtuosic and high-pressure surroundings, step forth and deliver. Certainly, the LSO's principal trumpeter, Philip Cobb (aged just twenty-three) was the necessarily cool candidate: his fluid and sweet tone penetrated the tender core of this work, and his bravura colours crowned the concerto's climax.
Whilst this plain-talking account clarified the sometimes bizarre amalgam of thematic and stylistic sources, the second piano concerto (Op. 102; 1957) is a different beast. Although it is still a long way from the soul-searching profundity (and, yes, misery) of his other four concertos, the second piano concerto is as ironic in its presentation as in its construction. Or at least, it should be. Again, Gergiev revealed a lot of the detail, encouraging effervescent and animated playing, particularly in the woodwind. And yet this similarly literal reading seemed to miss a trick: the work's nature is always idealised, and this could have been indulged a little more, rather than inspected and handled at such an objective distance.