Proms 2017 Prom 6: Nicola Benedetti plays Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1

Violinist Nicola Benedetti joins Thomas Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as they continue their exploration of music by Shostakovich and Sibelius. Here they pair the latter's stirring Second Symphony – adopted as a potent symbol of nationalism and resistance by the people of Finland – with Shostakovich’s symphonic poem October, a work whose subversive musical message sees the composer at his most pointedly political.

Shostakovich dedicated his First Violin Concerto to the celebrated violinist David Oistrakh, who praised its solo part as ‘Shakespearean’, and the concerto’s demonic Scherzo gives its soloist plenty of opportunity for virtuosity.

Image: Nicola Benedetti © Simon Fowler