DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

The Boston Symphony Orchestra under music director Andris Nelsons announce their upcoming album of Shostakovich’s Violin Concertos, on which they are joined by Latvian violinist Baiba Skride. It is released as part of an anthology that marks the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death and features both his already issued symphonies and incidental works as well as new recordings of the composer’s complete piano, violin, and cello concertos. Shostakovich wrote his two violin concertos for his friend David Oistrakh, withholding the darker first Concerto from public performance until after Stalin’s death. On the album, Baiba Skride now makes both works her own, from the pyrotechnics of the first to the more lyrical writing of the second Concerto.   

Listen to a pre-release track of the energetic and fierce fourth movement, taken from the composer’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor. The full album presenting both violin concertos will be released digitally on 28 March.