Mieczysław Weinberg is seeing somewhat of a resurgence in the past few years, and especially in 2019, which marks the centenary of his birth. Here we have the String Symphony No. 2, played by Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica, and the longer Symphony No. 21 (“Kaddish”), the composer’s last, played by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by the latter’s new chief, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.
The informative booklet gives a good background to the grim circumstances and inspiration behind the 21st Symphony, the composer had lost his family in the Holocaust and endured yet more oppression afterward. This ambitious Symphony took some years to write (completed in 1991) and in some ways seems a bit disjointed as a musical composition. We also have noticeable influences (Shostakovich and Mahler are echoing in the orchestration) and a direct quote from Chopin’s first Ballade, interestingly halted as a suspenseful mechanism.
In the first movement, Gidon Kremer takes the long solo violin segments, while Gražinytė-Tyla takes on the soprano part in the finale. A single previous attempt at this Symphony, made by The Siberian Symphony Orchestra under Dmitry Vasilyev a few years back, incorporated a more operatic sounding soprano, yet Gražinytė-Tyla’s purer, naive singing seems better suited to the overall interpretation.
The CBSO members are making the best out of the long stretches of quiet phrases, where the music seems to have no propose (that may be the intention), and their transition to the more dramatic movements as the second “Allegro” is skilfully executed. The brass and woodwind also apt for the many styles interchanging along with the movements – one can hear traditional polish music, Klezmer and oriental scales.
The Second String Symphony is more classical in character, and more tightly organized than the somewhat fragmented “Kaddish”. It’s a more readily approachable and even moving composition, with the small sized group sounds wonderfully diverse and involved throughout the piece. This is the second such attempt at a smaller size Symphony by this composer made by these forces (the former appeared on the ECM label), and it makes you want to hear more.
The artists sing their praises for this rather neglected composer in the booklet, their prerogative of course, even if their praises seem a bit outlandish at times (Weinberg is no Shostakovich nor Prokofiev). Nonetheless, this is certainly interesting music that can’t have better proponents.
Weinberg – Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra, Op. 30, Symphony No. 21 (“Kaddish”, Op. 152)
Kremerata Baltica
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Gidon Kremer – Violin Solo
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – Soprano, Conductor
Deutsche Grammophon, CD 0289 483 6566 1
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David
you say Weinberg is no Shostakovich or Prokofiev but if you could take the time to actually get to know a sizeable portion of his output, you might come to a very different conclusion. David Fanning is not alone in rating him as one of the three greatest Soviet composers and as a symphonist, at any rate, he probably tops the list for the sheer variety of idiom, contrapuntal mastery and emotional depth. I don’t myself think that no.21 is necessarily one of the greatest although it can pack a powerful punch in the concert hall in particular. I do tend to agree that he perhaps ruminates a little too much at times in the outer movements though less so than Shostakovich in works like no. 8. As for the soloist, Mirga seems too naive for me, especially in the harrowing climax and yet Bartenyeva is not quite right either — a bit too operatic as you say, Overall the last movement certainly makes more sense under Vasilyev as the newcomer plays down the emotional voltage really too much although I think I can see what she’s getting at.