# Shostakovich Violin and Cello Concertos



## Oliver

What recordings would you recommend for these great concertos (concerti?) by Shostakovich?

I have heard Oistrakh and Rostropovich but they are rather old and poor quality. Don't sound too great through my HD 598's...


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## JACE

For the Violin Concertos, I would recommend Maxim Vengerov with Rostropovich and the LSO:










Originally, these two concertos were released on two CDs, each paired with one of Prokofiev's Violin Concertos. These performances are also eminently recommendable.

Honestly, for the Cello Concertos, it's hard for me to recommend someone other than Rostropovich! 

I like Yo-Yo Ma's recording of the First Concerto with Ormandy and the Philadelphians. Ma's tone isn't as heavy and darkly Russian as Rostropovich's -- but it's still an excellent performance.

Slava's recording of DSCH's Cello Concerto No. 2 w/ Ozawa & the BSO is more recent than the famous First Cello Concerto with Ormandy & Philadelphia. This one offers fine sound too.

For both concertos on a single disc, I suppose you go for Heinrich Schiff with Maxim Shostakovich and the BRSO:










Hope that helps!


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## ptr

Mr JACE beat me to it, my reply would be much the same!

/ptr


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## Triplets

Oliver said:


> What recordings would you recommend for these great concertos (concerti?) by Shostakovich?
> 
> I have heard Oistrakh and Rostropovich but they are rather old and poor quality. Don't sound too great through my HD 598's...


 Sorry chief Maybe you need a remastered version of the Oistrakh and Rostro, both available on a spectacular sounding Sony CD. Both have been equaled but never betterd.


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## KenOC

For the two cello concertos, the Schiff/M. Shostakovich CD is wonderful. For the two violin concertos, I'd choose Lydia Mordkovitch (RIP) over Vengerov.


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## Saintbert

It's interesting that the Mordkovitch cover above would have a picture of the composer with David Oistrakh... While there's always room for new interpretations and more modern sound, like Triplets, I don't think you can pass by the original that easily. I have the Oistrakh/Rostropovich remastering and it sounds fine.


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## KenOC

Mordkovich was a student of Oistrakh, so the picture makes some sense. That said, her approach in #1 is somewhat different.


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## brotagonist

JACE said:


> For both concertos on a single disc, I suppose you go for Heinrich Schiff with Maxim Shostakovich and the BRSO:


For a nice price with all of them in one package, you can't beat this one:









This reissue has the above Cello Concerti on disc 2. Discs 1 and 3 have the Violin (Mullova/RPO/Previn; Kremer/BSO/Ozawa) and Piano (Jablonski/Simmons/RPO/Ashkenazy; Ortiz/RPO/Ashkenazy) Concerti respectively. The recordings date from 1985-94.


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