VISSARION SHEBALIN (1902-1963): Violin Concerto, Op. 21, NIKOLAI RAKOV (1908-1990): Violin Concerto No. 1, DMITRI KABALEVSKY (1904-1987): Violin Concerto in C, Op. 48.

Description: If you missed this the first time around, don't miss it now. Neither Rakov's nor Shebalin's concertos have anything to do with Soviet Socialist Realism. The former's is a "war" work in date only (1944), otherwise being a lyrical piece of transparent orchestration and often downright sweet in its personality whose overall aroma is more Gallic than anything else. Shebalin's is from 1940 and, while having more of the virtuoso quality to its solo part, is equally free from bombast, with a first movement "Introduction and Fugue", a second movement "Aria" and a very bright, but never brittle or nervous, rondo finale. Andrew Hardy (violin), Symphony Orchestra of Russia; Veronika Dudarova. Original 1995 Olympia release.