Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. 129

“Enthralling music-making.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2006

“Shoji delivers technically flawless and insightful performances. Despite its authentically grainy Russian timbre, the Ural Philharmonic is sometimes flaccid.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 ***

“Shostakovich planned his Second Violin Concerto as a 60th birthday tribute to Oistrakh. …it's a splendid performance, and very well recorded, as we can hear already in the introductory Bliss Fanfare, an extraordinary contrast to the sombre Concerto. Oistrakh appears to command the stage effortlessly and to catch the mood exactly, whether it's the melancholy musings at the start, the fierce, declamatory interruption in the slow movement or the finale's cadenza, emerging in Oistrakh's hands as a mad devil's dance. ...the LSO sounds wonderfully confident and forceful... Barry Tuckwell's account of the prominent first horn part is quite magnificent.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2010

“Oistrakh's playing is thrilling both in this and the Tchaikovsky, recorded in 1972 with the LPO. Well-detailed and vivid sound.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

"One of the most substantial contributions to the Shostakovich year." Fono Forum

“Though still only a teenager, the Armenian-born Sergey Khachatryan is a shining beacon among today’s young violinists, a persuasive interpreter with a musical personality all his own.” The Independent

“Do we need another pairing of the Shostakovich violin concertos? The answer is an unequivocal yes when the playing is as sensational as this.
Not just a preternaturally gifted teen, Sergey Khachatryan is a real rival to Maxim Vengerov in this repertoire: the Shostakovich No 1 is his party piece as well. Interpreting it with a less unyielding intensity, he too satisfies its demands as few have done since the great David Oistrakh.
Rock-solid intonation is combined with wonderfully sweet tone.
Kurt Masur's accompaniment is characteristic of him. You'll hear the important tam-tam contributions in the first movement, which Rostropovich and/or his sound team fail to clarify, but you shouldn't expect minatory timp thwacks when the third movement passacaglia launches with kapellmeisterish restraint. Masur's lack of theatricality puts the focus on the way the music is put together. One drawback hereabouts is a microphone placement that captures soloistic sniffles, distracting if you do your listening on headphones.
The finale is aptly lighter in style, with a dash to the finishing-line perfectly calculated to win prizes and bring the house down.
Authoritative booklet-notes portray the companion concerto as something of an also-ran, an impression the performance perhaps does too little to allay. There are some exquisite effects but Vengerov, Rostropovich and the LSO take us to another, darker place. In Paris the accompaniment has too much politesse and is backwardly balanced. Strongly recommended even so.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Born in 1985 in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey Khachatryan… is a real rival to Maxim Vengerov in this repertoire: the Shostakovich No 1 is his party piece as well. Interpreting it with a less unyielding intensity, he too satisfies its demands as few have done since the great David Oistrakh. Rock-solid intonation is combined with wonderfully sweet tone.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Daniel Hope – frighteningly gifted!” The Washington Post

“…penetrating and intense performances. In the First Concerto he draws the listener into the atmosphere of each movement from the very outset - the bleak landscape of the Nocturne, the savage mockery of the Scherzo, the combination of nobility and world-weariness in the Passacaglia and the manic abandon of the Burlesque. ...in the emotionally elusive Second it's Hope who seems to probe further beneath the surface of this dark and desolate music... The slightly deliberate tempo taken by Hope and Maxim Shostakovich in the Finale serves to accentuate its anger and brutality. A very desirable release indeed.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2006 *****

“The British violinist Daniel Hope has the measure of the darkness at the heart of this concerto, and his playing is almost conversational...Maxim Shostakovich guides the players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra through his father's concerto with understanding, and respect...The integrity and introverted intensity of the reading makes this a special performance for me.” Andrew McGregor, bbc.co.uk, 16th May 2006

“This coupling completely explodes the idea of the Second Violin Concerto being a disappointment after the dramatic originality of No 1.
Certainly No 2, completed in 1967, a year after the very comparable Cello Concerto No 2, has never won the allegiance of violin virtuosos as the earlier work has done, but here Lydia Mordkovitch confirms what has become increasingly clear, that the spareness of late Shostakovich marks no diminution of his creative spark, maybe even the opposite. In that she's greatly helped by the equal commitment of Neeme Järvi in drawing such purposeful, warmly expressive playing from the SNO. With such spare textures the first two movements can be difficult to hold together, but here from the start, where Mordkovitch plays the lyrical first theme in a hushed, beautifully withdrawn way, the concentration is consistent.
It isn't just that Mordkovitch has the benefit of far fuller recording and a less close recording balance, but that her playing has an even wider range of colouring and dynamic than Oistrakh's.
She conveys more of the mystery of the work and is perfectly matched by the orchestra. As in the First Concerto the principal horn has a vital role, here crowning each of the first two movements with a solo of ecstatic beauty in the coda.
The range of the recording helps in the finale, where the Allegro has a satisfyingly barbaric bite, while the scherzando element is delectably pointed, as it is in the first movement too.
In the First Concerto Mordkovitch is hardly less impressive. As in Concerto No 2 one of her strengths lies in the meditative intensity which she brings to the darkly lyrical writing of the first and third movements. Here, too, she has never sounded quite so full and warm of tone on record before. In the brilliant second and fourth movements she may not play with quite the demonic bravura of Oistrakh, but again there's no lack of power, and in place of demonry she gives rustic jollity to the dance rhythms, faithfully reflecting the title of the finale, Burlesque.
She's helped by recorded sound far fuller than Oistrakh's. This is a superb disc.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010