Dmitri Shostakovich
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77

Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 “English”

Vadim Gluzman – violin
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Daniel Raiskin – Chief Conductor of JPO

Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto was born in difficult times, during the renewed campaign of the Stalinist regime against artists and artistic freedom. It was written in 1947–48 for the celebrated Russian violinist David Oistrakh. Fearing that the concerto would be publicly denounced as degenerate, formalist art, Shostakovich postponed its premiere for several years. The work, which places exceptional technical demands on the soloist, was eventually first performed in 1955.

Antonín Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony earned the nickname “English” thanks to its publication by the London-based publisher Novello and perhaps also due to the extraordinary success of its London performance in April 1890 under Dvořák’s own baton. The English press at the time even hailed Dvořák as Beethoven’s successor. The Eighth Symphony stands among Dvořák’s finest orchestral works, filled with rhythmic freshness, rich expressive contrasts, and incomparable melodic invention.