Multi-award-winning violinist Leonidas Kavakos performs Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto on his 1734 ‘Willemotte’ Stradivarius. Composed in 1947 for David Oistrakh, it reflects the composer’s intensely personal voice against a backdrop of Stalinist purges and rising antisemitism. It is coupled with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, which was completed shortly after a European tour and exemplifies his struggle to balance Russian nationalism with European formal traditions. On the podium, Donald Runnicles weaves together Shostakovich’s modernist edge and Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Romanticism.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto opens in eerie stillness, tension brewing beneath the surface. When the third movement arrives it strikes with pathos and raw emotion. First in the trombones, then tenderly in the woodwinds, weaving a path for the violin’s entrance, growing through variations of unfiltered, searching intensity.

American Record Guide describes Leonidas Kavakos as a ‘violinist of formidable technique’, bringing both precision and power to this extraordinary music. He navigates the concerto’s extremes with a restless passion, as though the instrument is speaking directly from his soul.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth envelopes you in a new world. Beginning with an introspective clarinet line and aching strings, the symphony builds through a series of luminous melodies and dramatic turns. The horn solo in the second movement is warm and noble, and the third brings a graceful contrast with a lilting waltz. But it’s the finale where the true magic happens as the tragic theme from the beginning returns, this time transformed from defeat into triumph.