Shostakovich, Prokofiev: Violin Concertos

Exciting music by Shostakovich and Prokofiev played by a violinist of the new generation

In 2022, it was with Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto that Daniel Matejča, 17 years old at the time, triumphed at the competition Eurovision Young Musicians. Reviewers at journals including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Classica enthusiastically compared his Supraphon debut album of the complete sonatas for solo violin by Eugène Ysaÿe (2023) with recordings made by today’s star violinists. It was clear that after that solo album, Matejča would soon return to the studio to record Shostakovich’s First Concerto. The composer wrote it in 1947/48 for David Oistrakh. Shostakovich, however, had been labelled a “formalist”, and his prominent use of Jewish musical motifs was another obstacle under the antisemitic Soviet regime, so the premiere of this exciting work was postponed until after Stalin’s death. Sergei Prokofiev worked on his First Violin Concerto intermittently between 1914 and 1917. Full of contrasting passages, the work differs sharply from Shostakovich’s dramatic concerto. Daniel Matejča is in his element in both concertos, playing with stirring energy and technical virtuosity, expressing a wide range of emotions, ranging from rawness to delicacy and captivating depth. The conductor Tomáš Netopil is an experienced accompanist in the best sense of the word, shaping the orchestra’s sound with a wide range of dynamic and colours, but above all keeping in perfect step with the soloist as he tells his story. The recording also features sound of extraordinary colour, presence, and spatial plasticity.

Dmitri Shostakovich – Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77, Sergei Prokofiev – Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19

Daniel Matejča – violin, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Tomáš Netopil