Klaus Mäkelä
Lisa Batiashvili Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Dmitri Shostakovich

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) wrote his Violin Concerto in D major in just a few spring weeks in 1878, in the Swiss town of Clarens by Lake Geneva. The first violinists who attempted to play it declared the concerto unplayable, and early performances were met with scathing reviews. Yet, it soon gained immense popularity and has remained a favorite among audiences ever since.

When Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) composed his Symphony No. 8 in the summer of 1943, World War II was beginning to turn. Soviet authorities expected an optimistic symphony in line with the prevailing spirit of the time. Instead, Shostakovich produced a somber and introspective work that culminates in an almost melancholic conclusion.

As the war receded, the fear of Stalin’s regime returned. Shostakovich reportedly viewed his Eighth Symphony as a requiem, and in the years that followed, it was nearly banned. After Stalin’s death in 1953, the symphony returned to concert programs and is now regarded as one of Shostakovich’s finest works.