Shostakovich: Violin Concertos Nos.1&2 / Shoji
) | Label: Mirare Catalog: MIR 166 Format: CD Sayaka Shoji (violin), Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitri LissComposed by: SHOSTAKOVICH, D. The two violin concertos on this recording occupy a major place in Shostakovich's output and document especially difficult periods in his life. The condemnation of his music in 1948 and the subsequent "wilderness years" are shown in the Concerto No.1 and the incessant health problems Shostakovich endured after 1963 are echoed in the Concerto No.2, a work that marked his first dodecaphonic experiments. Violinist Sayaka Shoji offers brilliant and virtuosic readings of these powerful masterpieces, characterized by their somber emotional hues, sarcastic outbursts of the fast movements, and the fiendish difficulties of the cadenzas.  Price: $23.98 |