This disc was reviewed favorably on the website by Rob
Barnett, where he provided some discographic history on
recordings of the symphonies. As David Gutman points out in
his notes in the CD booklet, Kurt Weill is still considered
primarily as a theater composer — something that Weill would
likely have viewed himself. His concert works are rarely performed
in comparison, though the recording industry has been kinder
to him in this regard. Works of this type that have received
multiple recordings include both the Symphony No. 2 and the
Violin Concerto, but neither of these is held in as high an
esteem as his Threepenny Opera (Dreigroschenoper)
or Mahagonny. Weill’s First Symphony was a student
composition in one movement and shows considerable promise.
It had been lost and only surfaced in the 1950s when his widow
Lotte Lenya placed advertisements in the newspapers. Swierczewski
makes a good case for this dramatic, if rather episodic, work,
though I prefer by a narrow margin Marin Alsop’s tauter account
with the Bournemouth Symphony on Naxos whose drier, brighter
recording allows more detail to tell. Still, the performance
and recording here are also very good.
The Symphony No. 2 unlike its predecessor was premiered
in Amsterdam by the Concertgebouw under Bruno Walter soon after
Weill completed it and it was repeated in New York the same
year. Yet, since that time it languished until the 1980s when
it finally gained a toehold in the repertoire. It is a much
more accomplished and attractive work than the First Symphony
and is in three movements: fast, slow, fast. It has received
a number of distinguished recordings, including one by the Berlin
Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons on EMI. That one may be classier
than Swierczewski's but I don't find it as well characterized
as either his or Alsop's. For example, listen to the trombone
solo in the second movement Largo at 1:40 in the present
recording, which is as eloquent as one could wish. On the other
hand, the clarinetist at 3:28 in the finale goes a bit over
the top, pushing the tone out of tune and making it sour. Alsop
is perfect there, while Jansons is rather underwhelming. Given
a choice, I would still take Alsop's incisive account as my
pick both for performance and interpretation. Others may feel
differently.
Separating the two symphonies is some of Weill's most familiar
music taken from his hit Threepenny Opera. It was the
distinguished conductor Otto Klemperer who commissioned Weill
to make a suite for winds from the theater work. The Suite presented
here has taken on a life of its own and has provided wind ensembles
with some of the most delicious music of the composer. More
than the two symphonies, the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik with
its jazz rhythms, and use of such "popular" instruments
as saxophone, banjo, and guitar, shows the side of the composer
that is unique and that will forever remain in one's mind as
being "Weill". This includes "Mack, the Knife",
but much else besides. Swierczewski and his Gulbenkian instrumentalists
capture the infectious spirit of this music very well as do
the more polished London Sinfonietta and David Atherton on a
DG two-disc compilation of Kurt Weill's music.
This disc should suit anyone wanting this particular combination
of works even if I prefer other recordings such as those I referred
to above. David Gutman's succinct notes on the works are an
added bonus.
Leslie Wright
The Gulbenkian Orchestra/Michel Swierczewski 
