As a schoolboy at a boarding school in Ireland in the late 1950s I wrote to Dmitri Shostakovich when he was in hospital in Leningrad. He was amused to receive a letter from an Irish kid and wrote back. Years later my wife & I were invited to meet Maxim Shostakovich at the Festival Hall in London. Almost 60 years ago my wife (at that time) won the All England Ballet competition dancing to this beatiful Andante. As you can imagine the competition adjudicators were stunned.
I am so happy about the fact that some 20 years ago I was playing this wonderful concerto. And even once got a chance to speak shortly about this concerto with Maxim Shostakovich, to whom this concerto was dedicated.
I heard this piece performed live. It literally moved me to tears. I wondered what Shostakovich was being moved by, what emotion or series of thoughts was sweeping him along. There is such a passionate ebb and flow to this piece. I love it.
It is extraordinarily moving played this way, simply and clearly, in tempo, without any unnecessary rubato or theatrics. Any interpretational embellishment would destroy its eloquence and delicacy. This may be the definitive performance.
What a miraculous age. Imagine being able to call the departed from the beyond so that we can participate in the magic gift of this genius. He is playing for each and every one of us. Think of what that means. My heart is beyond joy. He is eternal.
After the grey, wintry gloom of the strings at the beginning, that first note on the piano has got to be one of the most hopeful sounds in the whole of music. It's like a blessing or a benediction, the first light at the end of the tunnel, the first hint that there is good in the world, and that bad as things are, you will get through this.
A couple of nights ago I was listening to this piece and as expected energy radiated from my body. It is a piece I cannot get enough of not that it will make me weep everytime but if I feel sad the goose bumps( musical chills) will take me into a world beyond any emotional or phyical pain and grief.
Oh, Laurence--thank you for your words and feelings. You articulated mine, as well, and I share those tears with you. RUclips is or can be wonderful for these moments, if a little cold for the physical distance.
@@enriquesanchez2001 Sorry to disappoint you Enrique; it's a bad habit of the poorly educated to reach for the first adjective on hand to express joy. I'll try to do better.
This is the most beautiful melody I have ever heard. I was delighted to find this recording by the composer himself...was not expecting the interpretation but my ear didn't seem to mind ;) Pure genius all of the time.
Beautiful concerto written by an enormously talented and sensitive soul. This is a musical metaphor for words he could not express about life in "Mother Russia". The sadness and longing is palpable.
It is pieces like this that are the reason I listen to music. PIeces that express such longing... Such sorrow... Such hope... It evokes in me the urge to both cry and sing for tomorrow... I learned this piece and played it with my piano teacher for a recital, her playing the piano part, and I sobbed as I played... Truly one of the greatest pieces ever put down on paper. Thank you Shostakovich, from the bottom of my heart, for this great gift to the world.
I could not agree more. This piecoe of music by Shostakovich puts the romanticism of Rachmaninov into the shade. It touches the soul and fully enhances the human conciousness. What a remarkable 20th century musician we have in the great Shostakovich!
Same with me .. I discovered both pieces the same day and I was totally amazed. Now I am learning the piano solo transcriptions. Extremely rewarding and satisfying. Makes me happy every day. Greetings from Germany!
Years ago my father was in hospital, both his kidneys were failing and he was on the way out, they couldn't find a suitable donor and I could barely bring myself to stay by his side seeing him like that. I went to a park to think about things and while I was there Shostakovich himself saw me sitting alone, he came over and asked me what was wrong, I told him how my father was dying and needed a kidney to survive but we couldn't get one. Shostakovich didn't say a word he just lifted up his shirt, unzipped his stomach and pulled out both his kidneys and handed them to me, "He needs them more than I do" he said and walked away, I rushed to the hospital and my father was saved! I'll never forget how Shostakovich saved my father's life...And later on, that young shostakovich turned out to be Keanu Reeves disguised as Bill Murray, thank you Shostakeanumurray you saved my father and I will always be thankful
@pianogirlA ~ I'd never heard it, either, until a couple years ago when I was the "orchestra" for a piano concerto competition....also have that MM in piano performance! I've accompanied both concertos, and really love the amazing music!
This entire work was choreographed and performed by the Dance Theater Of Harlem many years ago; and this movement was used to devastating effect in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Fox And His Friends". Such ineffable eloquence in that second movement. Its deep, contemplative sadness almost seems to stop time in its tracks.
usually, i relate to Shostakovich's music as a child of abuse. i relate to his constant fear of the KGB watching his every move. i relate to the frustration, the feeling of being made to play a part when your heart is far and away, elsewhere. but this piece was written by Shostakovich, a father, for his son. i cry because i wish i could have what his son had. i cry because i fear i could never be as good a father, for all that i've seen.
There is an amazing fusion of new and old in Shostakovich... so that you can hear the respect for the 'old' in his more progressive pieces, but you can also feel some sort of 'newness' in his more traditional sounding pieces.
@HostDavid I get goosebumps everytime I listen to this piece and the piano comes in... Such beautiful harmonies and a beautiful piano melody. Wow, Shostakovich.
Cant play it better than this. My high school marching band played this in a show last season..Great stuff. Good emotion and power.. Was an amazing show.
Quand Shostakovich a enregistré ce concerto à Paris, il était déjà assez malade et avait des difficultés à maîtriser sa main gauche. D'où son manque de virtuosité. Ce 2°mouvement est pourtant très beau, et a la profondeur de l'âme du maître.
So transcendently lovely; a long thread of pure silken melody over a satin harmonic sheen. Also interesting to me--an odd dynamic every time I hear a composer perform one of his (yes, alas, invariably, still "his") own works, I'm nearly always surprised by how straightforward, in almost piano-roll fidelity, it is. Not 'automaton' sounding, but utterly safe, and always pedagogical to the level of prosaic-sounding, though never pedantic. Ok, you want evidence. Well, Sherlock, go dredge up Stravinsky conducting Firebird, or Bolcom playing his Grateful Ghost Rag, or Copland conducting Quiet City, or Gershwin playing his piano preludes. The notable exceptions have been Bernstein's recordings of his Overture to "Candide," and his suite for "West Side Story." He rocks and cradles each of those musical works exuberantly and precisely, respectively (and as I expect, ideally). It's perfectly Bernstein! And also Lou Harrison performing one of his works for gamelan--which one exactly I don't remember, sorry to say. But I gathered an impression of his "interpretation" as gorgeously, subjectively confident but objectively tender. And I wasn't too surprised because I once met Harrison, about 25 years ago, and he was an engaging gentleman, scholarly in his breadth of music theory, technique and technicalities, and generous in his remarks on other composers. He had a special regard for the works of Samuel Barber, and these were shared after several other discussants had disparaged Barber as academically ossified, as helplessly neo-Romantic. Harrison dispatched the cattiness with utter objectivity and no whiff of an adversarial retort. It was sort of a master class in social grace, a virtue I think radiates quite reliably from his spiritually nutritious, cerebrally polished compositions. Especially in his own recordings, which impressed me as having been produced with competence, genuine musicality and intellectual humility. I'm sure he is very much missed by friends and the communities in which he traveled.
this is amazing .. really amazing - its only relatively recently (about a year or so) ive been getting into classical at all - ive heard this piece before but not like this
Siempre me he sentido interesado en conocer el desarrollo de las Bellas Artes en países de regímenes políticos férreos...y totalitarios...: este músico extraordinario de tiempos de la URSS fue presionado por el régimen político imperante...pero su música siempre se mantuvo en los mejores niveles de calidad expresiva...como gran compositor que fuera...! Loor a Shostakovich...!
Today I hear it for the first times in my life.....just so all of you can be jealous of me while I dont know what comes the next second,..the feeling of seeing an universe being born..:-)
Am so sad ,deeply sad to live at a time where everything is fading and going through time pages, I mean art now isn't about passion ,everything has changed, our fathers grandfathers used to listen to some classy artistic music ,but now art is the latest thing that people carre about
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Written as a birthday present for his son. What a father to have
Maxim...
Let's cry all together, because we love Shostakovich! Clicking just on a button is never enough.
Did you notice how heavenly the last part of this piece
Edit: masterpiece
As a schoolboy at a boarding school in Ireland in the late 1950s I wrote to Dmitri Shostakovich when he was in hospital in Leningrad. He was amused to receive a letter from an Irish kid and wrote back. Years later my wife & I were invited to meet Maxim Shostakovich at the Festival Hall in London. Almost 60 years ago my wife (at that time) won the All England Ballet competition dancing to this beatiful Andante. As you can imagine the competition adjudicators were stunned.
excuse me,uh i require further context to this interesting story
19 people were crying so hard they could not make out which one is the like button.
Mammoth Tea sadly , now 29 crying their eyes out. it is incredibly moving music
I'm crying really hard and I hit like lol
If it makes any difference, in 2023 there are no crying people as the 👎 function has been disabled 😂
I am so happy about the fact that some 20 years ago I was playing this wonderful concerto. And even once got a chance to speak shortly about this concerto with Maxim Shostakovich, to whom this concerto was dedicated.
What did he say!?
Yuri Polyakov what?? Really?? Could you please tell us our story I got immensly courious!! Sounds fascinating...
jesus christ man, just remember one day to reply this comment.
lol
No comment
happy 110th birthday to our beloved composer
Of all the classic music out there, nothing will ever be more beautiful and melancholic as this piece of magic. ❤
I'm just crying my eyes out this is the most beautiful piece i've ever heard
I heard this piece performed live. It literally moved me to tears. I wondered what Shostakovich was being moved by, what emotion or series of thoughts was sweeping him along. There is such a passionate ebb and flow to this piece. I love it.
His son. Piece was dedicated to him
this is the most amazing thing i have ever heard
this thing is.. music
It is extraordinarily moving played this way, simply and clearly, in tempo, without any unnecessary rubato or theatrics. Any interpretational embellishment would destroy its eloquence and delicacy. This may be the definitive performance.
+Gatto Nero It very well better be! After all, it's HIS piece... :)
I agree....he doesn't play it romantically, but tenderly, and with a great deal of underlying pain.
What a miraculous age. Imagine being able to call the departed from the beyond so that we can participate in the magic gift of this genius. He is playing for each and every one of us. Think of what that means. My heart is beyond joy. He is eternal.
After the grey, wintry gloom of the strings at the beginning, that first note on the piano has got to be one of the most hopeful sounds in the whole of music. It's like a blessing or a benediction, the first light at the end of the tunnel, the first hint that there is good in the world, and that bad as things are, you will get through this.
Dmitri Shostakovich. The best thing that's ever happened to music...
...ever
Absolutely THE best slow movement... but never heard the composer as soloist, many thanks
Dès les premières notes du piano les larmes me montent aux yeux. c'est d'une telle intensité!
Shostakovitch is my favorite composer. His songs touch the deep of my soul.
I cant say any word..its just perfect. I feel so gratefull for being capable of hearing such wonderful music...
Oh Shostakovich. You went and did it.
A couple of nights ago I was listening to this piece and as expected energy radiated from my body. It is a piece I cannot get enough of not that it will make me weep everytime but if I feel sad the goose bumps( musical chills) will take me into a world beyond any emotional or phyical pain and grief.
I love the way you put it, so accurately describing why I love Classical music! LOVE!
ça s'appelle l'amour, mon ami
Oh, Laurence--thank you for your words and feelings. You articulated mine, as well, and I share those tears with you. RUclips is or can be wonderful for these moments, if a little cold for the physical distance.
This is beautiful, i am14 years old fromFrance
@@arthurdonachy you HAD to ruin the mood by using profanity... spoilsport
@@enriquesanchez2001 Sorry to disappoint you Enrique; it's a bad habit of the poorly educated to reach for the first adjective on hand to express joy. I'll try to do better.
@@arthurdonachy you could delete that comment.
@@alicenelson8615 done
No words can describe how beautiful it is... Amazing!!!
I wish more people from my generation would appreciate classical music. (13-18) ...
This is it ... I bought whole CD just for this one. I am breathless and speechless such a beauty can only come from Slavic.
It's one of the most beautiful piano concerto parts I've ever heard! Absolutely loved it!
one of my favourite pieces of music - delicately beautiful, ethereal. other worldly...how did a mere human write this?
A spark of divinity
It's beauty has no limits...
This is the most beautiful melody I have ever heard. I was delighted to find this recording by the composer himself...was not expecting the interpretation but my ear didn't seem to mind ;)
Pure genius all of the time.
Just when you think there couldn't be a more beautiful piece, you hear this and realize there can be.
Quelle émotion d'écouter ce 2ème mouvement du concerto n'2 interprété par son auteur ! Un des chefs-d'œuvre du 20ème siècle.
Beautiful concerto written by an enormously talented and sensitive soul. This is a musical metaphor for words he could not
express about life in "Mother Russia". The sadness and longing is palpable.
Hello how are you doing
Piece was written for his son and dedicated to him.
It is pieces like this that are the reason I listen to music. PIeces that express such longing... Such sorrow... Such hope... It evokes in me the urge to both cry and sing for tomorrow... I learned this piece and played it with my piano teacher for a recital, her playing the piano part, and I sobbed as I played... Truly one of the greatest pieces ever put down on paper.
Thank you Shostakovich, from the bottom of my heart, for this great gift to the world.
I could not agree more. This piecoe of music by Shostakovich puts the romanticism of Rachmaninov into the shade. It touches the soul and fully enhances the human conciousness. What a remarkable 20th century musician we have in the great Shostakovich!
It is wrong to compare these wonderful talents. We should all be thankful that all of them existed.
This is a treasure..
The greatest middle movement of any concerto ever written.
Pure perfection. Music fulfilling it's mission as healing and meaning beyond words. Bliss.
This is very touching piece ....how beautiful and sad
i cant stop crying
да будет душа моя столь прекрасна, как эта композиция
Эта музыка лечит душу очищающими слезами.
One of my favorite pieces...🥲🎻🥀
Wonderful music. Bravo Maestro! Sublime. Shostakovich is one of the most significant composers ever. Soviet composer... So emotional music...
Hello how are you doing
The melody is nicely brought out.
Absolutely beautiful!
so beautiful
What amazing music. Sublime.
Favourite! Absolutely beautiful!
So beautifully gentle and melodic
Hello how are you doing
First time I listen this one. It reminds me the feelings I get when I listen Ravel's piano concerto in G minor, Adagio assai.
Thanks for sharing.
Claudio Briones Yes! Thank you for saying so, that’s exactly what come to my mind!
Same with me .. I discovered both pieces the same day and I was totally amazed.
Now I am learning the piano solo transcriptions. Extremely rewarding and satisfying. Makes me happy every day.
Greetings from Germany!
@@utekarg3281 Greetings from Chile ;)
Subliminal. A tender side of Shostakovich that can only be felt through his interpretation here. Wonderful...
Shostakovich will always be my Love .
Che suono meraviglioso
Tutto magnifico
Real Master of Music - Dmitry Shostakovich.
Years ago my father was in hospital, both his kidneys were failing and he was on the way out, they couldn't find a suitable donor and I could barely bring myself to stay by his side seeing him like that. I went to a park to think about things and while I was there Shostakovich himself saw me sitting alone, he came over and asked me what was wrong, I told him how my father was dying and needed a kidney to survive but we couldn't get one. Shostakovich didn't say a word he just lifted up his shirt, unzipped his stomach and pulled out both his kidneys and handed them to me, "He needs them more than I do" he said and walked away, I rushed to the hospital and my father was saved! I'll never forget how Shostakovich saved my father's life...And later on, that young shostakovich turned out to be Keanu Reeves disguised as Bill Murray, thank you Shostakeanumurray you saved my father and I will always be thankful
Are you an AI?
Belleza,sensibilidad y delicadeza.....
There is pain in this, innocence betrayed, wistful regret and still hope and pride.
How can anyone could dislike this???
That's really sad :-
Hello how are you doing
Couldn't agree more, brings me to tears every time
@pianogirlA ~ I'd never heard it, either, until a couple years ago when I was the "orchestra" for a piano concerto competition....also have that MM in piano performance! I've accompanied both concertos, and really love the amazing music!
Listening this beauty, I'm so happy and sad.
This entire work was choreographed and performed by the Dance Theater Of Harlem many years ago; and this movement was used to devastating effect in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Fox And His Friends". Such ineffable eloquence in that second movement. Its deep, contemplative sadness almost seems to stop time in its tracks.
Imagine saying: Dad, write me a piano concerto. And out comes this masterpiece which in no time conquers the repertoire of the entire world.
usually, i relate to Shostakovich's music as a child of abuse. i relate to his constant fear of the KGB watching his every move. i relate to the frustration, the feeling of being made to play a part when your heart is far and away, elsewhere.
but this piece was written by Shostakovich, a father, for his son.
i cry because i wish i could have what his son had. i cry because i fear i could never be as good a father, for all that i've seen.
There is an amazing fusion of new and old in Shostakovich... so that you can hear the respect for the 'old' in his more progressive pieces, but you can also feel some sort of 'newness' in his more traditional sounding pieces.
Emozionante, toccante e profondo
this is the reason i just love classical music it brings up goose bumps magical simply wonderful
peter muir it's 20th century
Una caricia al corazon...A caress to the heart..great.¡¡¡
Divine!!!
@HostDavid I get goosebumps everytime I listen to this piece and the piano comes in... Such beautiful harmonies and a beautiful piano melody. Wow, Shostakovich.
This is such exquisite beautiful piece. I love this music but it's hard to find and theh music in this video is so good. Thanks for the showing
Hello how are you doing
aahhh. Thanks Shosta! I just took the entire concerto played by him, thanks to this video. Simply Amazing
Cant play it better than this.
My high school marching band played this in a show last season..Great stuff. Good emotion and power.. Was an amazing show.
I agree. It is sublime.
Out of this world...
Paradise
Hello how are you doing
This peace of divine music aim to make a lonly hear happy and filled of thankfullness.
Arnulf, Norway
Sublime makes my Soul cry !!!
this is a father that loves his child ...
Just beautiful😍
Hello how are you doing
Quand Shostakovich a enregistré ce concerto à Paris, il était déjà assez malade et avait des difficultés à maîtriser sa main gauche. D'où son manque de virtuosité. Ce 2°mouvement est pourtant très beau, et a la profondeur de l'âme du maître.
Amazing beauty 🕊
Uma peça musical maravilhosa.Pura beleza.Obrigado Dmitri Shostakowich
Wow! What a great thing this is!
sublime es la palabra exaacta...maravilloso
I wish his whole concerto were like this.
i like Dmitri Alexeyev's rendition..simply marvelous!
Yes, that one is more beautiful. But the direct simplicity of this interpretation brings out all the pain
So transcendently lovely; a long thread of pure silken melody over a satin harmonic sheen.
Also interesting to me--an odd dynamic every time I hear a composer perform one of his (yes, alas, invariably, still "his") own works, I'm nearly always surprised by how straightforward, in almost piano-roll fidelity, it is. Not 'automaton' sounding, but utterly safe, and always pedagogical to the level of prosaic-sounding, though never pedantic.
Ok, you want evidence. Well, Sherlock, go dredge up Stravinsky conducting Firebird, or Bolcom playing his Grateful Ghost Rag, or Copland conducting Quiet City, or Gershwin playing his piano preludes. The notable exceptions have been Bernstein's recordings of his Overture to "Candide," and his suite for "West Side Story." He rocks and cradles each of those musical works exuberantly and precisely, respectively (and as I expect, ideally). It's perfectly Bernstein!
And also Lou Harrison performing one of his works for gamelan--which one exactly I don't remember, sorry to say. But I gathered an impression of his "interpretation" as gorgeously, subjectively confident but objectively tender. And I wasn't too surprised because I once met Harrison, about 25 years ago, and he was an engaging gentleman, scholarly in his breadth of music theory, technique and technicalities, and generous in his remarks on other composers. He had a special regard for the works of Samuel Barber, and these were shared after several other discussants had disparaged Barber as academically ossified, as helplessly neo-Romantic. Harrison dispatched the cattiness with utter objectivity and no whiff of an adversarial retort. It was sort of a master class in social grace, a virtue I think radiates quite reliably from his spiritually nutritious, cerebrally polished compositions. Especially in his own recordings, which impressed me as having been produced with competence, genuine musicality and intellectual humility. I'm sure he is very much missed by friends and the communities in which he traveled.
wowow!!! impresionante
Me enamoré de Shostacovich ❤🖤❤
this is amazing .. really amazing - its only relatively recently (about a year or so) ive been getting into classical at all - ive heard this piece before but not like this
We're playing Symphony 10 Mvt 2, this and Symphony 7 Mvt 4 for our marching band show this year. :)
写真を見る限りまだ若い頃のショスタだね。メロディがとてつもなく美しい。
あまり演奏されないのが不思議なくらい。こんな美しい曲を書いていたなんて
もう、映画音楽じゃないか！ CDが欲しい！
This is a very moving piece by shaostakovich.
@phylliselias
1st mvt of the concerto was in fantasia 2000
should be a love button not a like button ,just bliss
Siempre me he sentido interesado en conocer el desarrollo de las Bellas Artes en países de regímenes políticos férreos...y totalitarios...: este músico extraordinario de tiempos de la URSS fue presionado por el régimen político imperante...pero su música siempre se mantuvo en los mejores niveles de calidad expresiva...como gran compositor que fuera...!
Loor a Shostakovich...!
pure bliss
Today I hear it for the first times in my life.....just so all of you can be jealous of me while I dont know what comes the next second,..the feeling of seeing an universe being born..:-)
Enorme joyita de la música.
He plays it simply and directly because it's not about romantic fulfillment but an aching longing for what cannot be. That's why it's so damn sad.
wonderful...
Am so sad ,deeply sad to live at a time where everything is fading and going through time pages, I mean art now isn't about passion ,everything has changed, our fathers grandfathers used to listen to some classy artistic music ,but now art is the latest thing that people carre about