10-03-2013, New York, Shostakovich VC1, Vadim Repin, London Phil. Orch., Vladimir Jurowski

A stunning performance of Shostakovich’s first violin concerto

Vadim Repin did as good a job imaginable in this outstanding performance, reining in any implied triumphalism with a deeply equivocal reading that nonetheless expressed the workings-out of a profound inner debate. Persuasive in the opening Nocturne, he used his prodigious technical command to subtle changes in line and emotion, over a backdrop of void darkness provided by Jurowski. There was teamwork between soloist and conductor even in this most combative of concerti, especially in woodwind lines that not only matched or challenged the emotional sense of the violin line, but somehow managed to ape its tone too. Aggression was never far away, though, and Jurowski found it for the Scherzo, contrasting – but not too much – with Repin’s hyped-up grotesquerie. The Passacaglia had its requisite grandiosity, faux or otherwise, though Jurowski again elicited playing of eloquence nearly as great as Repin’s. Repin here as much as everywhere else seemed to live this concerto more than play it, his violin’s tone growing so powerful that it almost sounded amplified. Tortured intensity gave way to fracture for the coda, then to a pace on the verge of reckless for the Burlesca finale. Dancing, as Repin amply demonstrated here, need neither be joyous nor ironic: it can be both threatened and ambivalent.

Repin showed quite what possibilities there are in contemporary string playing in his excellent performance, shading his vibrato in and out at suggestive moments and to perfect degrees.

David Allen