Credits:

Shostakovich, D.

Description:

Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) Piano Concerto No. 1 was unexpectedly unpopular when it was played in draft form by his friend Rubinshtein, who advised him to rewrite it. However, Rubinshtein did not follow through, and instead completed the orchestration as is, dedicating it to Hans von Blow, who performed it for the first time to great success. Eventually, Rubinshtein took over the piano part several times, and Tchaikovsky also revised the work twice, in 1879 and 1888. What is widely performed today is actually the final draft, revised in 1888, which is actually different from Tchaikovsky’s original conception. Today, the 1879 version can be found on IMSLP and other sites, but Gerstein’s performance is a special advance access to the new original version, which will be released for the first time in 2015 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of his birth.The concerto here contains various change