Work of the Week - Nikolaj Roslawez: 2nd Violin Concerto

The other day, we featured Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto funebre in this column. The soloist of the performances in that week was 22-year-old Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova.

This week, the successful young artist is playing another exciting violin concerto from the 1930s. Together with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ilan Volkov, she is recording Nikolaj Andreievich Roslawez's 2^nd Violin Concerto.

Tragically, the music of one of the most original composers of the 20th century, Nikolai Roslawez, had sunk into oblivion until a few years ago, largely as a result of censorship under the Soviet regime which banned him from publishing and performing his works.

After his death in 1944, many of his manuscripts were considered to be lost and could not be published until recently after extensive archive research. Some of his works are still waiting to be performed in concert for the first time, including the three-movement 2^nd Violin Concerto which is to be recorded for Hyperion by Alina Ibragimova and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

 Nikolaj Andrejewitsch Roslawez - Profile 
 New Violin Concertos in focus in our PDF magazine schott aktuell the journal