Our autumn series of Lunchtime Concerts is dedicated to Shostakovich's chamber works, complementing Gianandrea Noseda's symphony cycle with the LSO.

Shostakovich achieved great acclaim with his Piano Quintet, winning the Stalin Prize and 100,000 rubles. The work is an early and traditional example of his chamber music – a descendant of similar works by his predecessors Schumann and Brahms.

It was written for the Beethoven Quartet and the composer himself – a pianist – to perform together; they premiered it in 1940 in Moscow. Shostakovich reportedly played the fast passages very quickly indeed: ‘Let's play it fast, otherwise the audience will get bored … you see my metronome at home is out of order, so pay no attention to what I wrote.’