Nikolay Roslavets: Violin Concertos (2008)

performed by Alina Ibragimova (violin), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)
composed by Nikolai Roslavets

This disc is a major discovery. How many listeners, even the most dedicated fans of early Soviet composers, can claim to have heard anything by Nikolay Roslavets? A victim of Stalin's life and death culture wars, Roslavets was all but expunged from the historical record after his death in 1944. Only a tiny fraction of his music has been recorded or even performed while the vast majority is either unpublished or lost. This 2008 Hyperion disc featuring the composer's two violin concertos is the first recording of the Second ... Read More

This disc is a major discovery. How many listeners, even the most dedicated fans of early Soviet composers, can claim to have heard anything by Nikolay Roslavets? A victim of Stalin's life and death culture wars, Roslavets was all but expunged from the historical record after his death in 1944. Only a tiny fraction of his music has been recorded or even performed while the vast majority is either unpublished or lost. This 2008 Hyperion disc featuring the composer's two violin concertos is the first recording of the Second and only the second recording of the First; the first was on a 1989 Wergo disc with violinist Tatiana Grindenko. But in its deep-seated conviction, big-hearted passion, and hair-raising virtuosity, these performances of the work by Alina Ibragimova with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov must count as a major discovery.As she demonstrated in her awe-inspiring 2007 recording of Hartmann's Concerto funebre, Ibragimova has a huge technique, a supple but intense tone,... Read Less