Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77(99)
I. Nocturne. Moderato
II. Scherzo. Allegro
III. Passacaglia. Andante
IV. Burlesque. Allegro con brio

Shostakovich and David Oistrakh first met in 1935, and they often played sonatas together in Moscow. Inspired by Oistrakh's artistry, Shostakovich started work on this concerto in 1947, and was writing the finale in February 1948 when .....

After World War 2, the 'cold war' period was the pretext for appalling repression inside the Soviet Union. Unlike the purges of the 1930s, which hit out at almost anybody, the post-war repression was aimed at the cultural and scientific intelligentsia. Stalin's henchmen began with literature in 1946, moved on to cinema and the theatre, and launched into music in February 1948, with a famous decree, lashing out at corrupt "formalist tendencies" in music. Shostakovich was sacked from his teaching posts, and obliged to write music for Stalinist propaganda films in order to survive. Understandably panic stricken, and despite completing the concerto, Shostakovich knew it had no chance of a public performance, and filed it in his desk drawer. The work was eventually first performed by David Oistrakh in 1955, two years after Stalin's death.

This is a symphonic concerto on the grand scale, lasting over thirty minutes, with a progressive four movement plan. The orchestra has no heavy brass, but major parts for woodwind and percussion.

The first movement is quite long, brooding and mysterious. The opening lyrical but lugubrious theme on lower strings lasts only four bars before the solo violin enters. There is no major climax at all in this movement, and a sad fade-out at the end.

The scherzo, by contrast, is quite manic - loud, hard and brittle in a fast 3/8 time. Yet there is no joy in this energy, rather a feeling of energy expending itself blindly. The contrasting central section, in a swaggering 2/4 tempo, brings in the percussion. The coda, even faster again, whirls the movement to a high energy close.

The passacaglia is noble and expressive, and at last real beauty makes an appearance in the work. As this subsides, a long solo cadenza emerges, which in turn leads directly into the vigorous finale. This combines the beauty of the passacaglia with the energy from the scherzo, to create music with a positive, affirmative message. The music is in a dance style (with a hint of the finale of Tchaikovsky's concerto about it). Towards the end the passacaglia theme returns on the horn which, taken up by the soloist, dominates a hectic and brilliant coda.