Dmitri Shostakovich Jr, the composer's 24-year-old grandson, gives a highly-strung and ferociously driven account of the Concerto, but not one in which much humour or grace is perceptible (save in his lyrically rhapsodic handling of the introduction to the finale, answered by earnestly throaty strings). His tempos are very fast and his attack formidable, but for an indication of how much he omits one has only to turn to Alexeev's outstanding performance on Classics for Pleasure, in which the slow movement especially has much more warmth, much more light and shade and delicacy of phrasing. In the finale, taken at a hair-raising speed, the young Shostakovich has no opportunity to lighten his brilliance: it is all rather doggedly hectic (it is not surprising that he makes a slight fluff) and the wry wit of the music evaporates. The driven quality (which some may like more than I do: the concerto emerges with more than a touch of the feverishness that we associate with later manifestations of Shostakovich's irony) is intensified by a fairly close, dryish recording and by the use of a noticeably small orchestra (18 of them, including the trumpet). This gives at times an effective chamber-music feeling to the ensemble, at others a rather grainly pallor that makes the lyrical moments seem a shade wan. Alexeev, as I have suggested, is much to be preferred (his splendid performance is ideally coupled—with the Second Concerto and the quasi-concerto called The assault on beautiful Gorky—and a first-rate bargain). Ogdon on Argo, too, is well worth considering (and he has the best trumpeter of the lot in John Wilbraham) if you are attracted by his coupling, the Stravinsky Capriccio, but Rosenberger (Delos) is not in the same class: she plays with little wit, nearly falls asleep in the slow movement and is recorded in a dullish, muffled acoustic.
If Shostakovich Jr's nervous and forceful way with this concerto interests you, however, you will certainly be glad to make the acquaintance of Yuli Turovsky's dramatic account of the Chamber Symphony. His small group of expressive and accomplished players almost has the best of both worlds, the soloistic eloquence of a quartet and the massive impact of a string orchestra, and the CD recording conveyes rather more of the bite of bow on string than can emerge from the large group, slightly more distanced from the listener, directed by Julian Bigg on Phoenix (his coupling is the Tenth Quartet, similarly transcribed for string orchestra). But since most listeners eager to acquire the First Piano Concerto will also want the Second (and the same might be said of those wanting transcribed quartets), Alexeev for the Concerto and Bigg for the Chamber Symphony would seem the obvious choice, unless you positively insist on CD.'