Shostakovich’s Violin Concert No.1 was composed in 1947, but had to forego a long wait before it’s premiere by David Oïstrakh as Shostakovich himself was persecuted by the Soviet government, forced to deliver a self-confession in front of all his colleagues. For the record, this concerto occupies the entire plot of Alexis Ragougneau’s novel Opus 77; the story of an imaginary conductor in Geneva, conductor of… the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande! We follow his adventures and state of mind according to the five movements which form the structure of the work: Nocture, Scherzo, Passacaglia, Cadenza and Burlesque.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibitionwere masterfully orchestrated be Ravel, and are indelibly linked to the history of the OSR: the Orchestra recorded the masterpieces three times with it’s founder, conductor Ernest Ansermet, in 1953, 1958 and 1959.