Alina Ibragimova and an All-Russian Shostakovich

Prior to around 1945, many big orchestras often had a distinctive sound. Thus the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Leningrad Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra ... In the decades following 1945, orchestral sound began to standardise and homogenise, until distinguishing one orchestra from another started to become difficult. What differences there still are began to be cultural rather than purely sonic. To this day, Russian orchestras often sound more at home in Russian repertoire compared with their international rivals, just as British orchestras often sound more at home in Elgar, French orchestras in French repertoire, and Germans and Austrians in Wagner, Strauss and Bruckner. Here analysis stops; music can rarely be described in words. And conductors can make a difference: it is often remarked how Vasily Petrenko can make even British and Norwegian orchestras sound “Russian”. And it is recounted how once when a conductor was rehearsing the Berlin Philharmonic and Furtwängler stepped into the hall to listen, the orchestra's sound changed to a more bass-rich “Furtwängler” sound. Homogeneity does not extend to composers, however. Mascagni and Puccini can only be Italian. Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky can only be Russian. Berlioz and Debussy can only be French. Bruckner and Brahms can only be Germanic.

I first heard Shostakovich's first violin concerto in the late 1950s when the British premiere (played by David Oistrakh, I think) was broadcast and a BBC “expert” explained it was not really a modern piece of music, but probably worth hearing. (The BBC said much the same thing when someone played Khachaturian's tuneful concerto. These music experts ... ) Rightfully, Shostakovich's Opus 77 in A minor has become almost popular, and has attracted some superb recordings since the days of Oistrakh and Kogan, including Lisa Batiashvili, James Ehnes, Ilian Garnetz, Leila Josefowicz, Leonidas Kavakos, Sergei Khatchatryan, Alexis Michlin, Stoika Milanova, Vadim Repin, Christian Tetzlaff, and Maxim Vengerov. I have 40 different recordings of the work, and the only real dud is one by Michael Erxleben where everything is played adagio di molto. Competition in recordings of this work is thus ferocious, and I listened with anticipation to my 41^st recording with an all-Russian cast with Alina Ibragimova and a Moscow orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski (a birthday present from a good friend). Ibragimova has always been one of my favourite violinists; no “violin babe” she appears to play only music that appeals to her. In this brand new recording of the two Shostakovich violin concertos she displays all her strengths: an impeccable technique, a deep immersion in the music she is playing, a wide variety of dynamics, a demonstration-class use of vibrato. Her interaction with the ever-changing moods of Shostakovich's music, and with the Moscow orchestra, inspires constant admiration. To cap it all, the recording (Hyperion) and the all-important balance between orchestra and violin, are also demonstration-class. Out of 41 recordings of such quality, there can be no “best”. But I know that, whenever I want to listen to Shostakovich's Op 77 again (which is often), my fingers will stray towards this Ibragimova version. Three stars, and gold medal standard. I have only ever heard Ibragimova once in person (playing unaccompanied Bach in a small hall in Bath) but for me, she never fails. It appears that her next recording venture will be the 24 Paganini capricci – unusual repertoire for her. I'll be in the queue for the first copy