Violin Concerto No. 2 (Shostakovich)
1967 concerto for violin and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich
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The Violin Concerto No. 2 in C♯ minor, Op. 129, was Dmitri Shostakovich's last concerto. He wrote it in the spring of 1967 and intended it to serve as a 60th birthday present for its dedicatee, David Oistrakh, in September. Shostakovich had mistaken Oistrakh's age, however; he actually turned 59 that year.[a] It was premiered unofficially in Bolshevo, near Moscow, on 13 September 1967, and officially on 26 September by Oistrakh and the Moscow Philharmonic under Kirill Kondrashin in Moscow.[1]
Music
The concerto is scored for solo violin, piccolo, flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, timpani, tom-tom drum and strings.[1]
A performance of the piece lasts approximately 33 minutes.[1] It has three movements:
The first movement is in sonata form[1] and concludes with a contrapuntal cadenza. The Adagio is in three parts, with a central accompanied cadenza. The final movement is a complex rondo. It has a slow introduction, three episodes between the refrains, and a further long cadenza before the third episode reprising material from earlier in the work.[2]
The key of C♯ minor is a difficult one for the violin.[1]
Notes
- Shostakovich wrote his only Violin Sonata for Oistrakh the following year to make up for this error.
