Shostakovich: Piano Quintet & Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok

The *Piano Quintet* of 1940, premiered by the Beethoven Quartet with Shostakovich at the piano, was a huge success for the composer, winning him the Stalin Prize the following year. The work—in five movements, for five players—demands a muscularity that Trio Wanderer and their two guests perfectly provide, and they also nail that mood of lightheartedness that Shostakovich tosses at the musicians in so much of his music. Jump forward to 1967 for the other work, the *Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok*, where the trio is joined by Ekaterina Semenchuk, whose powerful, expressive voice makes much of these sardonic songs.