This disc is an almost immediate follow-up by Naxos and Vladimir
Lande to their recording of Weinberg's epic and unusual Symphony no.6
- see
review.
That was the label's first recording of a Weinberg symphony, an oddly
tardy response from Naxos to the ongoing upswing in Weinberg's reputation.
By contrast,
Chandos
began their own Weinberg symphony edition a decade ago, the first
three volumes recorded by National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Katowice (NPRSOK) under Gabriel Chmura, the next three by the Gothenburg
Symphony Orchestra under Thord Svedlund. The latest was released earlier
this year (
CHSA
5107). All discs have been very well received, both in terms of
performances and with regard to Weinberg's thrillingly original music.
Naxos have the price advantage - typically 50% cheaper - but many
of the Chandos discs are in Super Audio quality. Either way, Naxos
founder Klaus Heymann has said that the two labels are effectively
sharing the workload initially, towards a bipartisan recording of
Weinberg's complete Symphonies - of which there are, incidentally,
21 complete, plus one unfinished fragment (no.22), four Chamber Symphonies
and two Sinfoniettas.
Vladimir Lande has described Weinberg's music as being "like a giant
Christmas present that's never been unwrapped. You know, right under
the tree, a huge box, containing twenty-two symphonies and more -
much of which has never been performed before". A populistic way of
putting it, for sure, but it gets across the point that Weinberg still
trails a long way behind his friend Shostakovich in reputation and
renown - quite undeservedly.
The Nineteenth Symphony is certainly a lot more exciting than annotator
Richard Whitehouse paints it: "Solo horn and strings then converse
resignedly over a gentle harp ostinato with whimsical asides from
flutes, a further climax being swiftly curtailed to leave solo clarinet
with limpid phrases which gradually overcome any remaining tension
as solo horn and piccolo continue against gently capricious strings."
For a long time it was a critical shibboleth that Weinberg's symphonic
music was a pale imitation of that of Shostakovich, especially as
Weinberg was always the more conservative. He is perhaps more reminiscent
of the older Prokofiev in fact, and as a consequence his symphonies
tend to be more lyrical, less strident, more immediately audience-friendly
than those by Shostakovich. That is certainly the case with the very
attractively scored and structured Nineteenth, which celebrates the
end of a war in emotionally ambiguous terms, the score bearing a quotation
from a poem - 'Victory is at our door" - by Anna Akhmatova.
The symphonic poem
The Banners of Peace was written straight
after the Nineteenth Symphony in 1985. The fact that it was dedicated
to the 27th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party provides some explanation
as to the uplifting, almost patriotic nature of the music. The incorporation
of fragments of revolutionary songs does not, in Whitehouse's opinion,
constitute propagandisation. However, in post-Stalinist USSR Weinberg
grew into a respected and decorated figure, and his Seventeenth, Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Symphonies seem pretty clear statements of national
identity and belief. Propaganda is everywhere in music, and need not
be a dirty word!
The works are decently performed by the St Petersburg State Symphony
Orchestra, though some of the players seem slightly out of sorts by
comparison with the previous volume. In a similar way, sound quality
is fairly good, though not perfect: recorded in Russia, some clarity
and depth were evidently lost in translation. On the other hand, audio
is an improvement on the only other recordings to date, by the USSR
Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev - still a great
Weinberg champion - for Olympia in the 1980s (OCD 590, OCD 591).
Those who find their appetites whetted by what they hear here need
not chafe - some of Weinberg's chamber music has also recently become
available on Naxos: three volumes of Cello Sonatas (8.570333,
8.572280,
8.572281).
Furthermore, three volumes of what is being billed as Weinberg's complete
piano music have been issued on HNH/Naxos's Grand Piano label in its
debut year, performed by Allison Brewster Franzetti (GP 603,
607,
610).
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
see also review by
Steve
Arloff 
