Philharmonia Orchestra and Philharmonia Voicesunder Jakub Hrusa, with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and Ekaterina Semenchuk (mezzo-soprano).
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No 1
Prokofiev: 'Alexander Nevsky'
(Shostakovich's dark and despairing First Violin Concerto had to be hidden away until after Stalin's death in 1953 for fear of reprisals from the Soviet Thought Police, who wanted only positivist flag-wavers that glorified the Motherland. This is exactly what Prokofiev provided with his cantata adapted from his music to Eisenstein's film 'Alexander Nevsky', which, following a breathtaking battle on the frozen wastes, climaxes in Alexander riding triumphantly into Pskov. The proletariat lapped it up and Stalin gave it his seal of approval, but Shostakovich was less than impressed.)