These two concertos reveal Schnittke at a point of transition: the First (begun as his “Opus 1” and revised in 1963) already brims with ideas, yet reaches beyond virtuoso display towards a singing, almost confessional violin line. A flowing opening theme—rhythmically intricate and emotionally strained—plants a leading motif that threads through the entire work, resurfacing in a nervy, angular scherzo and in the third movement’s calm song suddenly pierced by contrapuntal tension and a dramatic climax. The finale reshapes the motif into firmer, more decisive gestures, folding earlier material back into an extended close. By contrast, the Second Concerto (1966) stages a drama of timbre: linear solo and strings set against wind and percussion interruptions, with a double bass as caricatured “anti-soloist.” Built on a twelve-tone foundation yet anchored by the recurring note G, it moves through cadenzas, clusters, improvisatory stretches and even a slow-foxtrot mirage—until the obsessive G finally slips into its shadow, F sharp.