Natalia Lomeiko Violin

William Goodchild Conductor

Aimée Cottam Guest Leader

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1, op.99

Tchaikovsky Capriccio italien, op.45

Borodin Symphony No.2 in B minor

Bristol Symphony Orchestra welcomes international concert violinist, Natalia Lomeiko, to perform Shostakovich’s intense and dramatic Violin Concerto No. 1. The piece was composed during the post-war years in Soviet Russia (1947-48), a time of severe censorship. Grounds for banning a work included anti-Soviet propaganda, lack of proper ideological perspective, and a lack of perceived artistic merit. Because of this hostile context, Shostakovich kept the concerto secret and unpublished until Stalin’s death in March 1953, and the political thaw that followed. The work received its first performance in 1955 and was very well received. The violinist, David Oistrach – to whom Shostakovich dedicated the work – remarked on the “depth of its artistic content”, describing the violin part as a “pithy Shakespearean role”.

The concerto is complimented by Tchaikovsky’s cosmopolitan and tuneful Capriccio italien, and Borodin's dramatic Symphony No.2 on Russian themes, both works of great passion and beauty.