Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 12
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61
Detskaya tetrad' (A Child's Exercise Book), Op. 69
Murzilka
Variations on a Theme by Glinka (collaborative work)
1- Eugen Kapp
2- Vissarion Shebalin
3- Vissarion Shebalin
4- Andrei Eshpai
5- Rodion Shchedrin
6- Georgy Sviridov
7- Yuri Levitin
8- Dmitri Shostakovich
9- Dmitri Shostakovich
10- Dmitri Shostakovich
11- Dmitri Shostakovich

Only a short three months following the release of Volume 1, out comes Volume 2 of Italian pianist Eugenio Catone's complete survey of all the piano works by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).

The two Piano Sonatas that open this CD are complete polar opposites. The Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 12, composed around the same time as his Symphony No. 2 during the composer's experimental brush with atonality, is highly impetuous, headlong and overly complex. Just like Sergei Prokofiev's First Sonata, it's a single-movement work, but unlike Prokofiev's which glances backwards to the 19th century piano masters, it stares boldly into the future. In a more typical Shostakovich fashion, the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61, published the same year as his impressive Symphony No. 8, displays all the traits and characteristics that established Shostakovich as an imposing figure in 20th century music. Eugenio Catone well projects its sardonic wit, grim outlook, and uniquely Shostakovichian thematic development and harmonic twists and turns. I would say that this Sonata is mandatory listening for anyone wanting to understand the mechanics within this composer's style, and Catone lays that all out perfectly.

The opening March from the Child's Exercise Book which follows is a shock to the senses in its innocence and simplicity. And yet the composer couldn't resist applying his quirky sense of humour to its Merry Tale, and some out-of-place harmonics in the Clockwork Doll. The Variations on a Theme by Glinka from 1957 is performed in its entirety for the first time in this recording. The variations are based on a theme from Glinka's opera Ivan Susanin and well demonstrate how divergent composers, even when collaborating on the same project, come at the piano from differing perspectives. And oddly enough by adhering closer to the original theme, Shostakovich displays a greater sense of variety and expressive freedom than the others.

These piano works are a neglected dimension of this composer that should be explored by each and every Shostakovich enthusiast.