According to Shostakovich, he and Mieczysław Weinberg competed to see who could write the most string quartets; Weinberg, who outlived his mentor by two decades, won by two. On this disc, the two composers’ cello concertos (Weinberg’s only one; Shostakovich’s First) make an impressive vehicle for rising cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. This is one of only a few available recordings of the Weinberg, written in 1948 but left unplayed until after Stalin’s death, and Altstaedt’s muscular playing does justice to a distinctive, powerful piece. The long first movement pulses throughout with a heavy, yearning tread that he and conductor Michał Nesterowicz sustain without ever letting it become dirge-like; the third goes with an urgent, sometimes klezmerish swing. It is paired with a committed and atmospheric performance of Shostakovich’s Concerto No 1. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, clean and sonorous in the concertos, provides some snappy light relief with Lutosławski’s folksy, piquant Little Suite.
