Mieczyslaw WEINBERG (1919-1966)
Symphony No. 1 in G minor Op. 10 (1942) [39:35]
Symphony No. 7 in C major for harpsichord and string orchestra Op. 81 (1964)
[29:33]
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Thord Svedlund
Erik Risberg (harpsichord) (7)
rec. Concert Hall, Gothenburg, Sweden, 20-21 August 2008 (1), 24-25 August
2009 (7). DDD
CHANDOS CHSA5078 [69:23]
The Chandos Weinberg orchestral series moved from Katowice and Chmura to Gothenburg
and Svedlund. The latter is a very suitable choice having made several recordings
of Weinberg for Olympia.
The Chandos series currently encompasses:-
Vol. 1: Symphony 5, Sinfonietta 1 CHAN
10128
Vol. 2: Symphony 4, Sinfonietta 2 CHAN
10237
Vol. 3: Symphonies 14, 16 CHAN 10334 (not reviewed as yet)
Concertos (clarinet, flute 1 and 2, cello)
CHSA 5064
Add to this list the Melodiya
disc of Symphonies 4 and 6.
The First Symphony reflects a fascinating piece of history. The dedication is
to the Red Army - hardly astonishing given the date. The hard-bitten, epic-cinematic
style of the first movement is redolent of Boris
Tchaikovsky's First Symphony (1947) and the heroic war symphonies of
Shostakovich. There is also a strong stylistic overlay from Prokofiev (Romeo
and Juliet) heavily evident in the first two movements. Shostakovich approved
of the symphony and his blessing was the key to Weinberg being able to live in
Moscow. After a chortling and gurglingly high-spirited scherzo comes a triumphant
finale with elements of fugal play, of Shostakovich 5 and of the sort of updated
imperial sport to be heard in Glazunov's Eighth Symphony. The sound has a strong
image and well defined gradation of dynamics.
Fast forward twenty two years to the Seventh Symphony. This radiates a different
atmosphere - finer, delicate, melancholia-afflicted, with a modicum of tension.
The harpsichord touches in fine points around high quietly coursing violins.
There’s delicately dancing terpsichore, pensive music, lightly poignant
and exploratory. In the third movement the approach is corrosive and scalpel
keen. The finale is an unusual vision with the harpsichord making a Ulysses-style
return chiming like a mandolin - echoes of Romeo and Juliet again. The
strings groan, textures rattle col legno, solo violins dance in Mephisto
macabre jigs. This all awakes memories of Schnittke and of the strange otherworldliness
of the finale of Shostakovich's much later Fifteenth Symphony - at that time
lying in the future.
David Fanning has the gift of writing communicably for general audiences. His
liner-notes do more than set the scene.
Be intrigued by this disc. It opens the vista onto an otherwise closed world.
Will Chandos, I wonder, begin to record the symphonies of Lev Revutsky, Lev Knipper
and Maximilian Steinburg. I hope so though meantime there are other Weinberg
symphonies yet to be recorded - he wrote 27 in all.
Chandos do it again and in princely style.
Rob Barnett