SHOSTAKOVITCH: Symphony No. 15; Violin Concerto No. 2

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Violin Concerto No.2
Symphony No.15

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
David Oistrakh, violin
Kiril Kondrashian, director

The music of Dmitri Shostakovich is more popular than ever. His daring use of the symphonic form, often blunt and emotional musicality, and bold orchestration challenged the status quo of Soviet art and arguably conveyed the secret (and not-so-secret) horror of the "glorious Socialist workers' paradise."Two of Shostakovich's foremost interpreters interpreters "the dynamic conductor Kiril Kondrashin and legendary violinist David Oistrakh" join forces to present Shastakovich's late concerto masterpiece, and Kondrashin leads an orchestra that was arguably "his" in Shostakovich's final, sardonic statement in the symphonic form. Two legendary recordings, together on on value-priced CD.

...with a superbly vivid Fifteenth (from 1974), generally hard-driven a la Mravinsky but far more convincingly poised. The first movement goes at a frightening lick, deserting the toy shop for the asylum, the slow movement lacks only the very last ounce of desolation and the finale, always intelligently conceived, is suilably emotive at the close. The sound has immediacy and just enough depth.
Gramophone