So many of today’s violin concerto recordings sound artificial because of their spotlit miking of the violin, making it sound gargantuan in relation to the orchestra. But in the case of this 1957 broadcast of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, the bigness seems to come from David Oistrakh’s violin itself. Yes, he is obviously placed closer to us than the orchestra, but his full tone and the natural reverb of the violin in the large hall confirms the impression of an extraordinarily powerful player, so much so that I quickly forgot this was a mono recording. As for Oistrakh’s interpretation, the term that comes to mind is hypnotic. So focused are you on the intense mystery in his playing–those achingly sweet pianissimos!–that the somber first movement is over before you notice. Oistrakh shows us his defiantly powerful side in the third movement passacalgia, and thrills us with his nimble finger work and dead-on intonation in the scherzo and finale. And it’s no surprise that Evgeny Mravinsky, the conductor with whom Oistrakh (the work’s dedicatee) premiered the work two years earlier, leads a smoldering performance with the Czech Philharmonic.
Shostakovich also dedicated his Second Violin concerto to Oistrakh, and while we are not so fortunate to have his performance here, Jirí Tomášek provides a winning rendition of his own. Tomášek, one of the relatively few violinists to take up the challenge of this dark and brooding work after Oistrakh’s death, shows his mastery of the music’s eerie contours and hidden crevices, as well as the angry euphoria of the finale, where the violin seems freed from years of solitary confinement. This can’t be an easy piece to bring off, but Tomášek does so with his robust tone and razor sharp precision. Charles Mackerras, a specialist in Slavic music, leads the Prague Radio Symphony in a gritty realization of the orchestral score. The 1982 broadcast sound is a little on the thin side, but perfectly listenable.
