Mozart & Shostakovich: Concertos For Piano And Strings & Piano Sonata – Saskia Giorgini

In this captivating album, pianist Saskia Giorgini explores the porous boundaries between chamber music and concerto, weaving a nuanced narrative that connects the lyrical elegance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the biting wit of Dmitri Shostakovich. Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414, originally conceived for orchestra and string quartet, reveals its intimate side in this chamber music setting—its melodic grace and quiet complexity enriched by subtle interplay. In contrast, Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings bursts with irony and theatrical flair, shifting lightning-fast between parody and genuine pathos.

The album closes with Shostakovich’s Piano Sonata No. 2, a work of powerful introspection and formal brilliance. Composed in 1943 and dedicated to his late teacher Leonid Nikolayev, the sonata carries a subtle, tragic undercurrent as it moves between baroque clarity, melancholic lyricism, and quietly defiant modernism—forming a deeply personal counterpoint to the concerto’s extroverted brilliance. Together, these works trace a line of innovation where form, function, and emotion collide, delivering music that is as emotionally captivating as it is stylistically daring.