Piano Concerto No 2. Op. 102. Score.

Form:

Concerto for piano and orchestra (with brass reduced to 4 horns) in three movements:

1. Allegro
2. Andante attacca
3. Allegro

Orchestra:

Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 B flat Clarinets, 2 Bassoons
4 Horns
Timpani and Side drum (1 player)
Strings.

Composed:

Completed on 5 February 1957.
Dedication:

Maksim Dmitrievich Shostakovich (son).
Duration:

Approx. 16 min.

Identifying the “accepted” text of the score of the Second Piano Concerto, Op. 102, is associated with certain specific difficulties. The author’s manuscripts of the score and piano score contain a large number of discrepancies which are at times rather considerable. The differences in the parts of the solo piano in these two sources are particularly significant. So it is very difficult to give unequivocal preference to the Piano solo version either in the score or in the author’s arrangement of the concerto for two pianos.

During preparation of the first editions of the score and arrangement of the concerto for two pianos, various editorial clarifications and additions were introduced into the music text that relate primarily to the dynamics and tempos. These clarifications in the text of the score and piano score were in all likelihood coordinated with the author, but unfortunately were not coordinated with each other. This resulted in an even larger number of discrepancies.

An attempt to unify the score and the piano score was made when preparing the corresponding volumes of Shostakovich’s Collected Works put out by Muzyka Publishers at the beginning of the 1980s.  

But even there this unification was not carried out to the fullest extent. Nevertheless, it was precisely the 1982 edition of the score that proved to be the most suitable as a basis for this publication. In so doing, the text was collated again with the author’s manuscripts and all the lifetime editions of the concerto.

Incidentally, the time of the first edition of the concerto score requires clarification. A well-known reference by E.L. Sadovnikov points out that the first (and only, by the time the reference appeared in 1965) edition of the score of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto was published by Sovetskiy kompozitor Publishers in 1959. The preface “From the Editors” in Volume 12 of Shostakovich’s Collected Works also mentioned the 1959 edition, whereby it is mentioned in particular as being the text’s main source.

In fact, however, the 1959 edition of the score does not exist. There is still no explanation of why this mistake appeared in two reputable publications that came out at different times almost two decades apart.

The concerto score was published for the first time in 1957, at the same time as the author’s
arrangement for two pianos in Sovetskiy kompozitor Publishers.