The second disc from the series Khachaturian Conducts Khachaturian includes two concertos for piano and orchestra played by Nikolai Petrov, and a concerto for violin and orchestra played by David Oistrakh. The piano concerto was written in 1936, when Khachaturian was a postgraduate student under teacher Nikolay Myaskovsky. He wanted to create somewhat of a symphony-concert expressing the spiritual world of the modern man, a piece deeply national in its language yet innovative in its way of using expressive means of the piano and orchestra. The violin concerto is among Khachaturian s best compositions and a classic of contemporary violin music, frequently played by violinists all over the world. It was composed in the summer of 1940 and first performed by David Oistrakh, to whom the piece was dedicated on November 16, 1940.