Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor

Written both as a necessary emotional safety valve and as a private act of defiance, Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 was completed in March 1948. By that time, he had been branded by Stalin’s cultural apparatchiks an enemy of the Soviet people for writing “formalist” (art for art's sake) music. Shostakovich had to commit his Concerto “to the drawer”; it finally received its premiere in October 1955, over two years after Stalin's death. The opening “Nocturne” movement, apprehensive and even anguished in character, begins with a brooding bass motif, taken up and obsessively worked over by the soloist. There are some remarkable orchestral colours, such as the sinisterly insinuating bass clarinet, magically contrasted with the silvery grey of high muted strings, specked with plucked harp harmonics. A fleet-footed “Scherzo” follows, bursting with pent-up energy. The third movement, “Passacaglia,” is based on a grimly implacable bassline, introduced first with horns sounding a characteristic fate motif, followed by a sombre woodwind chorale. The soloist then enters, at first sweetly consoling, then in increasingly impassioned yet always dignified protest. It leads to a substantial “Cadenza”, in which the soloist elaborates on several themes from the preceding movements with increasing ferocity. This links seamlessly into the “Burlesque” finale, a vigorous dance apparently intent on exorcising the sensitive communing to be found in the slow movements.