Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Janacek: Violin Concerto

Leos Janacek (Composer), Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Marek Janowski (Conductor), Mikko Franck (Conductor), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Marek Janowski, Mikko Franck
• Composer: Leos Janacek, Dmitry Shostakovich
• Audio CD (February 6, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony Classics
• ASIN: B000BDIWT2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,972 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One might think that, in the centennial Shostakovich year, his first violin concerto had been performed and recorded so often and so well that there were no new interpretative avenues to explore. To contribute yet another addition to the discography, a violinist would have to be very good, very courageous, and have something compelling and personal to say. The young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride possesses all these qualities in abundance. Born in 1981, first prize winner of the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition, she is embarked on a major international career as soloist and chamber musician; this is her third recording for Sony Classical. She uses her effortless virtuosity entirely in the service of the music, never for display, and her tone is strikingly beautiful: expressive, variable, warm and pure in every register. Her approach to the Shostakovich is very much her own: unusually inward, lyrical, and expansive. Her emotional concentration and identification with every mood are extraordinary. The slow movements are mournful, bleak, and desperate; carefully paced, inexorable build-ups sink back into forlorn resignation. The fast movements are brilliant but controlled and clear, the tempi never excessive; the climaxes are unbridled but not raucous.

Janácek's Concerto, begun in 1926, remained a fragment (and its title a mystery), but he incorporated much of its material into his opera From the House of the Dead. In the 1980s, the Czech musicologists Milos Stredon and Leos Faltus reconstructed it, creating a short, dramatic piece full of Slavic dance- and serenade idioms, passionate declamation, soaring melodies and colorful orchestration complete with Janácek's beloved bird-songs. The brutally difficult solo part stays mostly in the stratosphere; the playing is terrific. Of the two orchestras, the Münchner, recorded live, sounds better. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS!, March 25, 2007

By 

Milan Simich - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Janacek: Violin Concerto (Audio CD)

Yes, buy this, especially for the Janacek. Terrific piece and terrific playing by Ms. Skride. The Shostakovich, live, is very good too! I heard her recently with New Jersey Symphony, (I've heard her before in recital) in the Shostakovich violin concerto number 2, and her playing of the cadenza knocked me out. Skride is better than Hahn, or Fischer or Josewitcz, but doesn't have the press they do. Dare I say it, but she is as good as my favorite Janine Jansen! I haven't heard Batiashvili live, next week I will, so I don't know how I will rate her....but after all is said and done, the Mutter Of Us All still rules women violinists!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alert Music Lovers!, August 24, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Janacek: Violin Concerto (Audio CD)

Prepare for another exceptional young violinist in the beautiful Latvian Baiba Skride. She seems to have what it takes to make audiences sit up and listen. Her tone is big and warm and yet supple enough to tackle the tricky brittle passages as thee appear - effortlessly. In the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 she maintains a gorgeous lyrical sound and sweeps through the work with finesse and thoughtful interpretive ideas. But she also never veers away from the score to superimpose herself on the piece, as so many others are wont to do. This is splendid playing.

The Janácek work is stunningly beautiful, less a concerto than a rhapsody of themes from his opera 'From the House of the Dead'. The orchestration is thick and gorgeous and the solo line is fiendishly difficult, but Skride tosses is off with aplomb and makes us want to hear more - in fact, she has several recordings for our pleasure already! It makes a fine pairing with the Shostakovich and Skride and her collaborators (Marek Janowski and the Berlin Radio Symphony on the Janácek and Mikko Franck and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra on the Shostakovich. Watch this regal young virtuosa rise. Grady Harp, August 10