Arve Tellefsen: Shostakovich and Bach concertos – Arve Tellefsen

Bach and Shostakovich with Arve Tellefsen

Over two centuries separate the two concertos Arve Tellefsen performs on this disc. Bach´s life-affirming Violin Concerto in E major strongly reflects his admiration for Vivaldi than almost any of his other instrumental works, and in its formal layout is as direct and easily understood as any Vivaldo concerto. Shostakovich on the other hand was a great admirer of Bach. His Violin Concerto was begun in 1947, but withheld because of the notorious 1948 Congress of Soviet Composers. First after Stalin´s death in ´53, with the “thaw” in the cultural climate and the success of the “Tenth Symphony” encouraged him to take it out of the drawer.