The concerto was premiered on 15 October 1933 in the season opening concerts of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra with Shostakovich at the piano, Fritz Stiedry conducting, and Alexander Schmidt playing the trumpet solos.
The trumpet parts assume equal importance during the conclusion of the last movement, immediately after the cadenza for piano solo.
After writing the orchestral version, Shostakovich wrote an arrangement for two pianos (without orchestra or trumpet).
Robert Matthew-Walker wrote of this work: With such a polyglot collection of quotations and influences, only a composer of genius could have moulded this variety into a cohesive whole.
The miracle is that Shostakovich succeeded, and constructed a distinctive and indestructible work...[2]He also noted that the concerto contains a strong element of parody, beginning with a reference to Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata, and ending with "an uproarious quotation" of Beethoven's "Rage Over a Lost Penny" and a slice of Haydn's D major Piano Sonata.