Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor

There are supposedly 4 big violin concertos in classical music repertoire - Beethoven's, Brahms', Mendelssohn's and Tchaikovsky's. I've listened and like all of them.

I always have a special affinity with Tchaikovsky's - one of the first piece that seduced me to Tchaikovsky's music due to its blazing finale. I have also always have a soft spot for Mendelssohn's due to its loveliness and gorgeous melodies throughout the whole concerto. The lively 3rd movement always made me smile whenever I listened to it. With the Brahms', how can one shake off the entrance of the violin solo in the first movement? It's so dramatic and yet so lyrical at the same time. Nothing but streams of gorgeous melodies follow after that. Unlike most people, Beethoven's - although it's still very great - is not my desert island violin concerto.

One month ago, when listening to live concert in radio, I came across Khachaturian's violin concerto. I wasn't expecting much at firs - only listening to the concert to wait for Brahms' 4th symphony, but how glad that I was proven wrong on that. The piece hooked me from the very first note until the very last. If one were to compare it against the big 4 violin concertos, it would be very much like Tchaikovsky's. Again as with the famous violin concertos, the main themes of each movement are so accessible - I couldn't get it out of my head after finishing the piece and it soon became my whistling tune for the rest of that day. I then went on to download a recording of it and listened to it again. I was thrilled with this piece and the lovely 2nd movement was now clearer to me than it was in the first listening. The breathtaking finale is still there and since then, this piece has retained its place in my violin concerto repertoire - alongside the big 4 violin concertos, Sibelius', Prokofiev's 2, Bruch's 1, 5 of Mozart's and Stravinsky's. I'm just a bit disappointed to find out that it's not as popular as I think it should be.