Dmitri Shostakovich Jr gives a much more likeable performance of his grandfatherhs Piano Concerto No. 2 than he did of the First (Chandos ABRD1120; CD CHAN8357, 4/85). He is not tempted to rush the first movement, so its good humour emerges as well as its taut energy; he chooses an ideal tempo for the andante (helped no doubt by his father Maxim, for whom the concerto was written and who gave the first performance), conveying to the full its poised beauty without the slightest shadow of exaggeration or sentimentality. A nice, nimble finale, too, the percussive passages in 7/8 given proper attack but no undue weight or thickness. It is the most chamberscaled performance of those listed above; the strings lack a touch or two of power, perhaps, but there is ample compensation in the delicacy of sound in the andante, the transparency of texture throughout (with the solitary exception of the first movement climax, which is a bit congested) and an excellent balance between soloist and orchestra.
The Symphony for strings, too, is excellently done, with formidable attack and a wide spectrum of tonal colour, from a ghostly pallor at the outset of the finale via a rich graininess to an eloquently throaty, full-voiced cantabile. Turovsky, as for mer member of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra at the time when Rudolf Barshai arranged this work for string orchestra, has presumably direct authority on his side (if not common sense would dictate it) for taking the scherzo at a tempo rather below that marked in the score: the greater weight of sound means that no power is lost, and the all-but-impossible fast semiquaver figures are enunciated with vivid clarity. With a small body of strings Turovsky can almost draw upon the advantages both of a quartet and of a string orchestra, which Bigg on Phoenix, using a larger group, cannot quite do; besides, Bigg begins the finale (marked pp) at a clumsy mf and similarly, if more slightly, under-characterizes the music elsewhere.
In the case of the Concerto a lot will depend on your choise of coupling. If you want the Concerto No. 1, I would go for Alexeev on CfP: he finds rather more variety in the Concerto No. 2 (in the First as well) than Shostakovich Jr, including a quite violent attacking quality at times, though his more ample orchestra misses some of the chamber music transparency of the new account; he also offers a bonus in the form of a striking one-movement concerto, The assault on beautiful Gorky. List on CBS gives good performances of both works but is very closely positioned in front of a rather stodgy-sounding orchestra. Bernstein (also on CBS) is no less good, but is even more highlighted; his coupling is the Ravel Concerto in G major. The recording of the newcomer is excellent: fairly close but natural and with a pleasing bloom of reverberance; if this is a coupling that appeals to you I wouldn't hesitate.'