Mieczys ław WEINBERG (1919-1996)
Weinberg Edition - vol.4
Cello Sonata no.2, op.63 (1959) [20:21]
*Piano Quintet, op.18 (1944) [46:43]
Christoph Stradner (cello); Luca Monti (piano); *EOS Quartett Wien (Willy
Büchler (violin); Christian Blasl (violin); Roman Bernhart (viola); Andreas
Pokorny (cello)); *Doris Adam (piano)
rec. live, Seestudio, Bregenz, Austria, 25 July 2010 (Quintet); 8 August 2010
(Sonata). DDD
NEOS 11128 [67:06]
This is the fourth volume in NEOS's 'Weinberg Retrospective', recorded at
the Bregenz Festival in 2010 (see below for reviews of other releases in this
series). The centrepiece of the festival was the premiere staging of Weinberg's
opera and magnum opus Die Passagierin ('The Passenger') - see review
of the DVD recording of Die Passagierin here.
The absurdity of Weinberg's neglect in Western Europe - something which growing
discographies on Chandos, CPO, Naxos, Toccata and NEOS are only just beginning
to correct, at least as far as domestic listening is concerned - is underlined
by his Piano Quintet, surely as brilliant and memorable a work as any written
in the genre. A recording of the Quintet appeared recently on Nimbus (review),
and within the last decade, both on RCA Red Seal (review)
and in a reissue of possibly the most authoritative account, given that Weinberg
himself was pianist, on Melodiya (review).
No one listening to the Quintet can be surprised at its wartime provenance,
yet there are many pages of presumably ironic light-heartedness and military
eupepsia to balance the returning air of gloom and introspection. It is virtually
impossible not to be reminded of Shostakovich by Weinberg's music, but that
influence is something Weinberg freely and proudly admitted, with Shostakovich's
close friendship tending "unconsciously [to] inspire [my] compositional activity."
Yet Weinberg's voice is as unique as that of Shostakovich.
The Cello Sonata is more melody-led, and a little more optimistic, perhaps
reflecting the Khrushchev Thaw that had taken place after Stalin's death -
something that led to Weinberg's release from prison, where he was being held
on charges of "Jewish bourgeois nationalism", and which may even have saved
his life.
Most of the performers here also appear on volume 5, and in both places are
uniformly impressive, matching technique with expressiveness. Sound recording
is very good indeed: coughing and rustling have been kept to a minimum, either
by very thoughtfully positioned microphones or benign audiences. Applause
has been skilfully edited out, the audience again being very helpful in not
having cut into the short silence which rightly belongs at the end of all
works of art music. There is one minor technical blemish, at least on the
review disc: about ten-and-a-half minutes through the fourth movement of the
Quintet, a minor blip that resembles an editing join.
Housed in an attractively designed digipak case, the CD booklet is thick.
That said, having everything in four languages means that there is much less
information than there appears to be at first sight. Two sides of biographies
match Matthias Corvin's notes on the works. These are all, nevertheless, well
written and well translated into English.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
As brilliant and memorable a work as any written in the genre.
Reviews of other releases in this series
Volumes
1 & 2
Volume
3
Volume
5