Search - Dmitry Shostakovich, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, John Novacek :: Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Violin Sonata

Twenty years separate the composition of these two works. Both bear Shostakovich's signature traits: the emotional extremes, the mercurial mood and character changes, but the Concerto, written in 1948, is more assertive, full-blooded, buoyant; the Sonata, written in 1969, is sparse, bitter, desolate. The Concerto's first movement is dreamy, meditative, held back in tempo and expression; long arching melodies rise and fall against a somber orchestral background. The second movement is a frantic, grotesque Scherzo; it quotes Shostakovich's initials (in the German spelling) D, E-flat, C, B, reportedly his secret way of asserting himself. The basses announce the brooding theme of the ominous, solemn Passacaglia; the soloist responds with a mournful lament. A cadenza of formidable difficulty and mounting tension leads into the Burlesque, a witches' dance of unrestrained wildness and enormous technical brilliance. The Sonata begins in the piano with widely spaced octaves, the first of many eerie sound effects; the violin's counter-melody is bleak, lifeless; the dynamics are subdued, the mood inward. The second movement is wild, loud, grotesque, an agonized outcry; the Finale is another Passacaglia, culminating in virtuosic cadenzas for each instrument before dying away. David Oistrakh, Shostakovich's friend and dedicatee of his violin works, had to wait six years to premier the first Concerto for political reasons; the Sonata was free of those clouds, but shadowed by the wings of death. Leila Josefowicz plays splendidly, with great bravura, unbridled passion and total identification with the music; her tone is beautiful but a bit unvaried. The orchestra is excellent; Novacek, though a fine pianist and partner, is often too loud. --Edith Eisler