shostakovich violin concerto

Shostakovich and Oistrakh. 1, the bigness seems to come from David Oistrakh’s violin itself. Shostakovich referred to his Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor, begun in 1947 in the aftermath of the second world war but not premiered until 1955, as a symphony for violin and orchestra. The cadenza becomes faster and more intense as it progresses, recalling ideas from the previous movements, including the DSCH motif. Dmitri Shostakovich, David Oistrach, The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, Dimitri Mitropoulos: Dmitri Shostakovich, David Oistrach, The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, Dimitri Mitropoulos - Violin Concerto, Op. It was premiered unofficially in Bolshevo, near Moscow, on 13 September 1967, and officially on 26 September by Oistrakh and the Moscow Philharmonic under Kirill Kondrashin in Moscow. 77: II. A combination of depth, brilliance and humor, Patricia Kopatchinskaja brings a sense of theatrics to her performances of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 77(99) DIMITRI DMITRIEVICH SHOSTAKOVICH. 129, Museum and Exhibition Complex 'New Jerusalem', Moscow. With little warning, Shostakovich and other leading Soviet composers found that many of their works that were once praised were now banned. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. It would have been laughable if only so much had not been at stake. 2 in C-sharp minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 129. But the score was not suitable to the the times. The inclusion of this motif suggests an autobiographical intent. Concerto No. That may be, but Skride 's Shostakovich and Janácek violin concertos doesn't entirely … 1 in A minor, Op. a boisterous, klezmer-inspired central episode, the solo violin takes up the bass line itself, the elegy from Tchaikovsky’s Third String Quartet, A Baroque Christmas: Q&A with Guest Vocalist Morris Robinson, Playliszt: 10 Great Pieces by Music’s Original Rock Star, Getting steamrolled by a musical train | Discovering ratchet. The work isn't singular in being joyless; much of late Shostakovich is like King Lear without the laughs or Siberia without the … The First Violin Concerto was composed (as Opus 77) in 1947–48, but political difficulties deferred the premiere. Dmitry Shostakovich had completed his First Violin Concerto during the 1950’s, and he dedicated it to the great Soviet violinist David Oistrakh. Explore the 2020–21 season and purchase your subscription today! 99 ‎ (LP, Mono, Promo) Columbia Masterworks: ML 5077: USA & Canada: 1956: Sell This Version Your subscription means more than ever. In 1948 David Oistrakh was almost 40 and recognised as the greatest string player in the Soviet Union, although World War II and the Cold War had delayed his international career. Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto is a late work, dating from the spring of 1967, when the composer was 60 years old. 129, one … 1 In G Minor. After a quieter variation for winds, the soloist enters with an expressive melody. 1 & Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Vladimir Spivakov, James Conlon & Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra on Apple Music. 1. For his actual sixtieth birthday, Shostakovich composed a violin sonata: his Opus 134. Fiddler on the Roof? The Violin Concerto No. In the concertos of the previous century, cadenzas were normally placed just before the end or at the climax of the first movement. The latter is missing from this reading by violinist Alina Ibragimova and conductor Vladimir Jurowski, leading the cumbersomely named State Academic Symphony of Russia "Evgeny Svetlanov," but Shostakovich called the work a "symphony for violin and orchestra," and not only because it has four movements: it is an exquisite, turn-on-a-dime essay in soloist-orchestral balance that features one of the most difficult solo parts in the repertory (remarkable, in view of the fact that Shostakovich did not play the violin). Ibragimova is likewise solid in the later Violin Concerto No. The opening Nocturne is a somber, meditative soliloquy for the soloist, accompanied by dark-hued orchestral timbres: After this introspective night music, the ensuing scherzo is a wild, frenetic dance. Your email address will not be published. 129, in the unusual key of C sharp minor, is the antithesis of its “friendlier” predecessor in A minor. Alas, by the time Shostakovich completed the violin concerto in 1948, the situation had changed completely. A Guide to Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. If the composer's precarious state of mind under Stalinist repression does not come through, the clean, jewel-like craftsmanship of the work does. BORN: September 25, 1906.Saint Petersburg, Russia. Shostakovich dedicated the concerto to him). Ibragimova challenges herself even further by playing the opening theme of the finale as a solo, which Oistrakh rejected as too difficult. 2016 Editors’ Notes This young Scottish violinist has precisely the right stylistic range for Shostakovich’s explosive and mercurial first violin concerto. DIED: August 9, 1975.Moscow. A number of other official plaudits followed, and in 1947 Stalin ordered that the Shostakovich family be given a nicer apartment and a dacha in the countryside. About this Piece. World War II had distracted Stalin’s government from show trials and purges, leaving artists slightly less harassed than usual. Technically, the first appearance of this figure is D#-E-C#-B, but it later morphs into the more usual form. !” This last phrase he shrieked out like a frenzied maniac, and then kept on repeating it. no. Having defeated the enemy without, the Soviet government soon resumed its incessant witch hunts for enemies within. 2 that I've encountered. Bruch wrote a couple of gorgeous concertos: it was a toss … Violinist David Oistrakh, for whom both these works were composed, called the Violin Concerto No. This recording of Shostakovich Violin Concertos (the more expensive original release can be found here) is highly recommended for passionate violin playing with thoughtful emotional context and excellent technique by the late, underrated Lydia Mordkovitch, sympathetic and dynamic orchestral accompaniment from Jarvi and the Scots, certainly over Rostropovich and Seiji Ozawa, and terrific, full … Shostakovich titled the last movement “burlesca,” an indication that fits the music’s darkly comic atmosphere. 1 in A Minor, Op. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. 1. The Scottish violinist has precisely the right stylistic range for Shostakovich’s explosive and mercurial first violin concerto. In 1948, Shostakovich had just completed his First Violin Concerto, but locked it away in a desk drawer; this probing and sometimes sarcastic work might seal his doom with the Soviet authorities. By this point, years of tobacco, alcohol, and state sponsored terror had taken a toll on Shostakovich; he had suffered his first heart attack the year before, the night after his final public performance as a pianist. Climaxing with the return of the klezmer theme in the violin’s highest register, the cadenza then accelerates into the finale. She does not miss the humor, also Beethovenian, at the beginning of the finale. His inclusion of klezmer-inspired music in this concerto and a number of other works that followed may have been another veiled protest against the regime. 1 in A Minor, Op. Here Ibragimova is on solid ground, and her performance is a technical marvel. For tickets and more information, visit houstonsymphony.org. Violin Concerto No. The following variation features chant-like repeated notes reminiscent of the elegy from Tchaikovsky’s Third String Quartet. Suspended in this liminal space, the soloist seems even more alone and isolated. 2 in c sharp minor Op. Not long ago I reviewed a recording of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto by Frank Peter Zimmermann in which he went back to the composer’s original manuscript – even to the extent that the recording carried the original opus number, Op 77. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. Instead, Shostakovich places his cadenza between movements, making it seem untethered, as if we have passed into some netherworld that is neither here nor there. Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 2. Because of the delay in its premiere, it is unknown whether or not the concerto was composed before the Tenth Symphony (1953). Yes, I humiliated myself, I read out what was taken to be ‘my own speech.’ I read like the most paltry wretch, a parasite, a cut-out paper doll on a string! Shostakovich from Alina Ibragimova 29th May 2020 The Russian-born violinist brings searing intensity and muscular tone to the two concertos, backed to the hilt by Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov'. An increasingly tense series of variations follows, until the solo violin takes up the bass line itself before returning to its original melody. Shostakovich at this time had become increasingly interested in baroque musical forms. DMITRI DMITRIEVICH SHOSTAKOVICH BORN: September 25, 1906.Saint Petersburg DIED: August 9, 1975.Moscow. We cannot know what Shostakovich was thinking when he wrote this passage, but one of Shostakovich’s comments to his friend Maria Sabinina after being forced to read a speech at this time seems to resonate: “And I got up on the tribune, and started to read out aloud this idiotic, disgusting nonsense concocted by some nobody. State Academic Symphony of Russia "Evgeny Svetlanov,", Violin Concerto No. He kept his first violin concerto in a drawer for seven years until the time was right for its performance in 1955. 1. Dausgaard leads the orchestra in music by Denmark’s greatest musical hero, Carl Nielsen. The third movement is a passacaglia, a type of baroque theme and variations in which a bass line is repeated as new melodies and textures are introduced above it. The First Violin Concerto is not only a major individual accomplishment from Shostakovich but it is also a major contributor to the form of the violin concerto in its four-movement form. World War II had distracted Stalin’s government from show trials and purges, leaving artists slightly less harassed than usual. COMPOSED: July 1947 to March 1948, but it was not published until 1956, with revisions possibly having been effected in the interim. This was not the first time such things had happened, nor would it be the last. Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg on September 25, 1906, and died in Moscow on August 9, 1975. The Violin Concerto op. In 1942, Shostakovich unveiled his Leningrad Symphony, which won a Stalin Prize and was played across the allied world as a symbol of solidarity in the fight against the Nazis. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Stalin had begun an anti-Semitic campaign during WWII which intensified in 1948. Required fields are marked *. Shostakovich finished his violin concerto anyway, although it would not be premiered until after Stalin’s death in 1955 (the violinist for the premiere would be the great David Oistrakh, featured below. Its mad, virtuoso fiddle music brings the concerto to an unsettling, but thrilling conclusion. Advertisement. Concerto No. Regarding the persecution, Shostakovich remarked “…how ‘this’ had started with the Jews but would end up with the entire intelligentsia.” The revelations of the atrocities of the holocaust further fueled Shostakovich’s interest in Jewish music. In the arts, literature was the first target after the war, but by 1948 it was music’s turn. –Calvin Dotsey. The bass line in this case is a heavy, oppressive figure introduced by the cellos and basses, as horns play pulsing figures and arpeggios above it. The rationales given were ludicrous; Shostakovich and other composers were forced to listen to long harangues from cultural apparatchiks laden with virtually meaningless terms like “formalism” and “socialist realism.” Despite having sincerely tried to understand these terms for the past two decades, many composers came to the conclusion that social realist works were simply the ones in favor at the moment and formalist ones were not. By 1948 it was too abstract, and then kept on repeating it is D # -E-C -B... But the score was not the first target after the appearance of Shostakovich ’ s musical signature, the seems. Violinist has precisely the right stylistic range for Shostakovich ’ s highest register, the music ’ s Violin No... The spring of 1967 as an early 60th birthday present for its performance in 1955, ideas! 77: I. Nocturne: Adagio '', Violin Concerto in 1948, the situation had changed.. 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