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Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, by Dmitri Shostakovich was composed in 1957 for the 19th birthday of his son Maxim, who premiered the piece on 10 May 1957 during his graduation concert at the Moscow Conservatory. It contains many similar elements to Shostakovich's Concertino for Two Pianos: both works were written to be accessible for developing young pianists. It is an uncharacteristically cheerful piece, for Shostakovich.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo piano, two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, timpani, snare drum and strings.

Movements

The concerto lasts around 20 minutes and has three movements, with the second movement played attacca, thereby moving directly into the third:

1. Allegro

   The first movement is in sonata form. The main theme of the first movement is played first by the bassoon, then soon accompanied by the clarinets and oboes. The piano answers with its own theme, played as single notes in both hands an octave apart. This develops into a march-like theme. A new theme in D minor is then introduced, with unisons two octaves apart on the piano, winding down to nothing. Then, an abrupt blast from the orchestra leads into tumultuous and low jumping octaves on the lower piano, while the orchestra plays a variation on the original piano melody fortissimo. The piano builds in a triplet pattern to introduce the D minor theme (now in Bb major) in an augmentation in a triumphant tutti. At the climax the piano comes in with a contrapuntal solo. After a minute of the fugato, the orchestra returns, playing the melody in the high winds. The orchestra builds on the main melody while the piano plays scales and tremolos, which lead into a few lines of chords and octaves by the piano, with the main theme finally resurfacing and bringing the movement to a close.

2. Andante
   The second movement presents two different themes that are in variation form. Strings start gently in C minor, with a short introduction before the piano comes in with a triplet theme in C major. Although it remains slow throughout, and works within a comparatively small range, it is marked by the recurrence of two- or four-on-three rhythms.
3. Allegro
   The finale is a dance in duple time, making much use of pentatonic scales and modes. Soon, the second theme is introduced, in
   ₈ time, with the piano accompanied by balalaika-like pizzicato strings. This carries on for a short time before a new motif arrives in "Hanon" exercise mode, with scales in sixths and semiquaver runs, this being the joke for Maxim's graduation. These three themes are then developed and interwoven before a final statement of the
   ₈ theme and finally a virtuoso coda in F major.

Reception

In a letter to Edison Denisov in mid-February 1957, barely a week after he had finished work on it, the composer himself wrote that the work had "no redeeming artistic merits". It has been suggested that Shostakovich wanted to pre-empt criticism by deprecating the work himself (having been the victim of official censure numerous times), and that the comment was actually meant to be tongue-in-cheek. In April 1957, he and his son performed a two piano arrangement of the work for the Ministry of Culture, and then it was later premiered for the public at the Moscow Conservatory.

Despite the apparently simple nature of this concerto, the public has always regarded it warmly, and it stands as one of Shostakovich's most popular pieces. In 2017, the concerto was voted 19th in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. In 2024, it was ninth.

Recordings

Despite his dismissal of the concerto, the composer performed it himself on a number of occasions, and recorded it along with his first concerto. Both are played with fast tempi. His playing in his third and last recording evinces the onset of the progressive neuro-muscular disorder that ended his pianistic career. In his recordings of the second movement, Shostakovich presents slight variations in some passages that are not written in the score. Some examples include a repeated chord Shostakovich plays from bar 33 that is from the first beat of bar 34 is written as a tie in the score.

Maxim's own son, Dmitri Maximovich Shostakovich, also recorded the piece, with his father conducting I Musici de Montreal. Dmitri the younger approaches his grandfather's tempi and phrasing.

Other recordings include those by Leonard Bernstein as soloist and conductor for Columbia Records, Marc-André Hamelin for Hyperion Records, and Dmitri Alexeev with Jerzy Maksymiuk conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. There has been a recording of this concerto by the Mariinsky Orchestra with soloist, Denis Matsuev and Valery Gergiev as conductor.

Ballet

The concerto is used in two different ballets. Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto premiered on 30 November 1966 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, then became a Royal Ballet repertoire. Alexei Ratmansky created Concerto DSCH for the New York City Ballet, and premiered in 2008.

References

1. ^ Moshevich 2004, pp. 153–5.
2. "Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No.2 in F". classicfm.com. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
3. Bostan 2014, p. 33.
4. "Fascinating Insights into SHOSTAKOVICH's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, op. 102". Redlands Symphony. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
5. Shostakovich, Dmitri (2010). Yakubov, Manashir (ed.). Dmitri Shostakovich: New Collected Works. IIIrd Series: Instrumental Concertos. 41st Volume: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 102 (Arranged for two pianos by the author). Moscow: DSCH Publishers. pp. 121–122. ISMN 979-0-706364-23-0.
6. Radio, Global. "Classic FM Hall of Fame". halloffame.classicfm.com. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
7. "Classic FM Hall of Fame 2024".
8. Moshevich 2004, p. 155.
9. Moshevich 2004, p. 154.
10. Dmitri Shostakovich and Rodion Shchedrin, Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Shchedrin: Piano Concerto No. 5. (Denis Matsuev and Valery Gergiev, Mariinski) 4-6
11. "Concerto". Royal Opera House Collections Online.
12. "Concerto DSCH". New York City Ballet. Retrieved 23 May 2020.

Sources

• Bostan, Maria Cristina (2014). "Concerto in F Major, Op. 102 for Piano and Orchestra by Dmitri Sostakovici". Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VIII: Performing Arts. 7 (2): 33–42.
• Moshevich, Sofia (2004). Dmitri Shostakovich, Pianist. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2581-5.

v t e Dmitri Shostakovich
List of compositions
Operas and operettas	The Nose Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District/Katerina Izmailova The Big Lightning (unfinished) Orango (unfinished) The Twelve Chairs (unfinished) Katyusha Maslova (unfinished) The Gamblers (unfinished) Moscow, Cheryomushki
Ballets	The Golden Age The Bolt The Limpid Stream
Symphonies	No. 1 in F minor No. 2 in B major (To October) No. 3 in E♭ major (The First of May) No. 4 in C minor No. 5 in D minor No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in C major (Leningrad) Leningrad première American premieres No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in E minor No. 11 in G minor (The Year 1905) No. 12 in D minor (The Year 1917) No. 13 in B♭ minor (Babi Yar) No. 14 in G minor No. 15 in A major
Concertos	Piano No. 1 in C minor No. 2 in F major Violin No. 1 in A minor No. 2 in C♯ minor Cello No. 1 in E♭ major No. 2 in G major
Orchestral works	Tahiti Trot Suite from The Golden Age Suite from The Bolt Suite from The Limpid Stream Five Fragments Scherzo (1922) Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1 Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 (orch. McBurney) Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 (arr. Atovmyan) Festive Overture Suite from Encounter at the Elbe Suite from The Gadfly (arr. Atovmyan) Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory October "Intervision"
Concert/brass band	"March of the Soviet Militia"
Film music	The New Babylon Alone Golden Mountains Counterplan The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda The Youth of Maxim Girl Friends The Return of Maxim The Vyborg Side Friends The Great Citizen Zoya Simple People The Young Guard Pirogov Michurin Meeting on the Elbe The Fall of Berlin Belinsky The Unforgettable Year 1919 The Gadfly Five Days, Five Nights Sofiya Perovskaya Hamlet King Lear Gogoliad (unfinished)
Vocal music	Suite on Finnish Themes Song of the Forests The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland Antiformalist Rayok From Jewish Folk Poetry The Execution of Stepan Razin Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok Loyalty Six Poems by Marina Tsvetayeva Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin
Chamber music	String quartets No. 1 in C major No. 2 in A major No. 3 in F major No. 4 in D major No. 5 in B♭ major No. 6 in G major No. 7 in F♯ minor No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in A♭ major No. 11 in F minor No. 12 in D♭ major No. 13 in B♭ minor No. 14 in F♯ major No. 15 in E♭ minor No. 16 in B major (unrealized) Other Cello Sonata in D minor Piano Quintet in G minor Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Quartet Movement in E♭ major (c. 1960s) Violin Sonata Viola Sonata
Piano music	Three Fantastic Dances 24 Preludes Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Children's Notebook 24 Preludes and Fugues
Family	Galina Shostakovich (daughter) Maxim Shostakovich (son)
Named for Shostakovich	Dmitri Shostakovich-class ferry Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia Named After D. D. Shostakovich 2669 Shostakovich International Shostakovich Chamber Music Competition London Shostakovich Orchestra Shostakovich (1969–1981) Shostakovich Peninsula Shostakovich Quartet
Related articles	Concerto DSCH DSCH motif Europe Central Ian MacDonald Muddle Instead of Music The Noise of Time Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Solomon Volkov Testimony: book film The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin Wihuri Sibelius Prize
Category

• Classical Music

• Concertos by Dmitri Shostakovich
• Piano concertos
• 1957 compositions
• Compositions in F major