Constantine Orbelian, Moscow Chamber Orchestra - Shostakovich, Mozart & Bach: Piano Concertos (2013)

Thus did BBC Music Magazine praise Dedicated to Victims of War and Terror (DE3259), one of two previous Delos albums in which Maestro Constantine Orbelian – longtime Director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (MCO) – appears as the featured pianist. The other is Shostakovich – Schnittke: Piano Quintets (DE 1038). The present release, offering engaging concerto performances, is now Orbelian’s third recording for Delos as a pianist. Some fans of Orbelian’s work as conductor may still not be aware of his brilliant career as a concert pianist before he assumed the MCO’s directorship in 1991. Since then – despite his intermittent appearances as a pianist – his immense success as a conductor has overshadowed his reputation as a distinguished keyboard artist. With this sterling reissue, a new generation of listeners should come to appreciate his rare piano mastery. While all of these winning performances are with the MCO, they were recorded in the years just before Orbelian took over the orchestra. The three concertos with single piano were performed under the deft baton of previous MCO director Andrei Korsakov, whose untimely death in 1991 left the vacancy that Orbelian filled. Korean Maestro Nanse Gum expertly conducted the Mozart “Double” Concerto No. 10, also featuring noted American pianist Jonathan Shames. Orbelian’s trumpet partner in the Shostakovich is the Russian superstar Sergei Nakariakov, then only about 12 years old!