Totally hooked on Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto. None of the sadness shown in many of his other works(maybe because it was meant for his son), except for the slow movement which is quite nice too! It's fascinating to see the clashing harmonies characteristic of his compositions put together into a much brighter work than his 1st cello concerto and cello sonata(both among my favourite pieces as well).


The Hanon finger exercises in the last movement? That had me rolling on the ground laughing. And I never thought 7/8 could sound so consonant and exuberant, weird rhythm in my knowledge mainly belonging to Bartok; but Shostakovich takes weird rhythm and puts it together with nice harmony and the whole thing doesn't sound weird anymore.


And I LOVE the octaves. Shostakovich is known for arranging parts in broadly spaced octaves; to me it gives the note power and yet leaves that little empty space in between that yearns to be filled with harmony.


And yet, reading the notes on the disc(my recording is played by the great composer himself), Shostakovich's ailment saddens me; it must be really terrible to be unable to play the works one composes, or those that were once playable to him. The notes on the Hanon finger exercises are somewhat muddy as they are in other places that are technically demanding, and it reveals his condition quite clearly, marring the perfection of the recording. =(