The First Violin Concerto
is one of Shostakovich’s supreme achievements
and along with the second is among the
greatest works for violin and orchestra
of the 20th century. However,
in keeping with so much of Shostakovich’s
music, as with other composers from
Soviet times, the work had to wait to
be performed. In this case it was more
than seven years before its composer
felt it was safe to publish; after Stalin’s
death in fact. It had its premiere on
20 October 1955 with the great David
Oistrakh, the work’s dedicatee as soloist.
The concerto is a mighty
work in every way and truly symphonic
in scale, comprising four movements.
To quote Oistrakh: "In the violin
concerto, as in many other of Shostakovich’s
works, I am attracted by the amazing
seriousness and profundity of the idea,
the true symphonic thinking. There is
nothing accidental in the score of the
concerto, nothing that is used for its
outward effect and is not supported
by the inner logic, by the development
of the material. Behind Shostakovich’s
symphonic thinking you can always sense
the profoundest meditation on life,
on the fate of mankind". With Shostakovich
there was always the public and the
private face and both concertos on this
disc are clearly an embodiment of the
latter in which he expresses his fears
as well as his hopes. Small wonder that,
having been written in 1948 when Zhdanov
was wielding his cultural axe with such
menace, Shostakovich kept the score
of the first violin concerto aside under
after Stalin’s death, originally giving
it the op. no. 77, it was revised in
1955 and renumbered op. 99.
I have listened to
several versions and the overriding
impression is that there is a unity
of expression among them all, and they
are a mightily talented collection:
David
Oistrakh, his son Igor, Dmitri
Sitkovetsky, Ilya Kaler, Baiba
Skride, Leila Josefowicz (separate
review to come), and Daniel Hope, the
subject of the current review.
It is interesting that
Daniel Hope dedicated the album to David
Oistrakh who is one of his violin heroes
and whose work he has studied extremely
closely. Coupled with this is the fact
that his recording is with Maxim Shostakovich,
son of the composer, which makes for
a powerful input of authenticity.
Right from the start
I had the feeling that here was a serious
contender for benchmark status, though
others have mentioned Vengerov
whose version I haven’t heard. Hope
shows 100% commitment and it’s clear
he has lived with it for a long time
before going into the studio. Both David
Oistrakh and his son Igor produce wonderfully
sweet tones while Daniel Hope and Dmitri
Sitkovetsky - with the same orchestra
and recorded in the same studio 16 years
apart - have a slightly harder edge
to their performances; not that that
detracts in any way from a work packed
with heartfelt emotion. Each movement
in Hope’s rendition is beautifully crafted
with the orchestra producing a wonderfully
creative partnering to his hugely authoritative
and authentic reading. I was particularly
impressed, not to say bowled over, by
Hope’s playing of the cadenza. This
emerged from the third movement in the
most perfectly natural way without any
feeling of showy histrionics. It is
expressed as an integral and logical
outcome of the musical material that
comes before it and into the final movement.
While I am thrilled
to have the other versions mentioned,
especially those of Oistrakh, and Sitkovetsky,
who comes so close, I could not now
do without this recording also.
Daniel Hope is equally
up to the challenge of the 2nd
violin concerto which was written in
1967 and intended as a 60th
birthday present for David Oistrakh,
to whom, once again it was dedicated.
However, due to Shostakovich confusing
his birth date it was ready one year
early and he performed it first at the
age of 59 on 26 October 1967. Preoccupied
with his own mortality, having suffered
a heart attack the previous year, the
second concerto is more spare in its
writing than the first and, in common
with a great deal of his output, mirrors
the sadness and despair he was feeling
at the time. If ever proof were needed
that out of anxiety and despair great
works are often created, this is it.
The movements merge from one to another
in the most seamless way and Hope captures
the melancholy mood perfectly. The first
begins with a bleak main theme with
the orchestra joined by the soloist
after a mere 8 seconds but a perky and
grotesque little tune attempts at various
stages to break out from this barren
soundscape. Though it never succeeds
in completely taking over it reasserts
itself as the movement comes to a close.
The second movement, although more lyrical
than the first is still unremittingly
bleak in concept and calls for the soloist
to play at times in what amounts almost
to a whisper. Daniel Hope manages this
in the most convincing way and with
beautifully shaped passages throughout.
The third movement begins with another
playful theme on the violin and echoed
by a mocking horn, later picked up by
the whole orchestra and punctuated by
outbursts from the tom-tom. A brilliant
cadenza for solo violin follows leading
to a restating of the main theme from
the beginning of the concerto and making
for a completely satisfying whole.
The filler for this
disc is the romance from "The Gadfly".
Hope explains that he included this
because the subject of the story by
E.L. Voynitch is a revolutionary who
proved a thorn in the side of authority
just as Shostakovich was made to feel
so frequently throughout his career.
Again it is a ravishingly gorgeous rendition
and it makes you want to hear the whole
suite.
Finally, I am not capable
of being categorical about which version
should be considered the benchmark but
I have no hesitation in nominating this
for Disc Of The Month status as I found
it the most supremely listenable disc
I have heard in a long time.
Steve Arloff
Daniel Hope (violin) 
