Cellist Edgar Moreau, with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and conductor Andris Poga, performs two concertante works from the mid-20th century: Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Concerto in C minor (1956), and Henri Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain... (1970). Both were premiered by the great Mstislav Rostropovich, which creates a special link with Moreau: in 2014 in Paris, he won the Young Soloist Prize in the Rostropovich Cello Competition. In recent years, interest has grown in the music of the Polish-born Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who was mentored by Shostakovich. The title Tout un monde lointain... evokes a distant world, and Dutilleux's five-movement work does indeed take us to a very different place from Weinberg's, drawing inspiration from the sensuous poems of Charles Baudelaire. Praising Edgar Moreau's last Erato album, Transmission, Gramophone wrote: "His tone is beautiful, his phrasing rapt, and the intensity of his delivery is magnified in the immediacy of his presence in the sound picture."

First complete set of these works on one disc. Marina Tarasova has established herself as an authority in the music of Weinberg whose centenary comes up in December 2019. Her highly acclaimed recording of the concertino on Northern Flowers has been sensationally received

Performances of beauty and great skill - more please!

The wait for the music of a particular composer to be recorded when they have been ill-served in the past is sometimes a long one. In the case of Weinberg it seems as if his time has finally come and new discs of his music are arriving fairly regularly. This is the fourth CD of his music that I’ve reviewed. I know they’ve been others recently, and Amazon now lists over 60. It is great news and if, like me you’ve also found his music to be to your liking then, again like me, you’ll welcome this addition as much as I do. What has emerged as the CDs arrive is what an amazingly rounded composer he was with compositions in almost every genre. Weinberg composed 26 symphonies, seven concertos, 17 string quartets, 28 sonatas for various instruments, seven operas, several ballets, incidental music for 65 films, and many other works, including a Requiem. When Shostakovich received the score of his First Symphony in the post asking him to look at it, he was so impressed he immediately arranged for Weinberg to come to Moscow from Tashkent where he had gone to escape the invading Nazi armies. The two composers became fast friends. While there is no doubt that Weinberg was influenced by Shostakovich, the same was also true the other way round, with each acknowledging the debt to the other. The music on this disc confirms Weinberg’s enormous creative talent and often unique musical view.

One of the biggest difficulties I find in writing reviews is how to describe music I enjoy in different ways. This disc is a case in point as what’s on offer here is so thoroughly impressive and it’s all too easy to find that I’m repeating myself while I struggle to find words to express how marvellous I find the music. With this firmly in mind I’ll do my best to try because this music deserves no less. Right from the very first note you know you’re in for something special. The mellifluous tone of the beautifully played clarinet wafts in as if on a breeze while waiting for its piano accompaniment. It’s not long before you can hear why people refer to Shostakovich when writing about the music of Weinberg. Indeed the booklet notes the considerable influence the older composer had on the younger man who wrote both the clarinet sonata and the twelve miniatures in 1945, just two years after arriving in Moscow at Shostakovich’s behest. The second and third movements may also remind one of Shostakovich. That is mainly because the Jewish folk tunes Weinberg based much of the material on are sources that Shostakovich also drew on, sources that he used, with Weinberg’s help, in his From Jewish Folk Poetry (1948). The writing is witty and satirical. Weinberg’s scoring for clarinet reflects its use in much of the klezmer music that had been written since the nineteenth century in which the clarinet was steadily replacing the violin. Music like this was in Weinberg’s very bones since his father was a composer and violinist in a travelling Jewish theatre. There should be no surprise that it should feature so recognisably in his music. It is hard to imagine how he could write such happy sounding music when only four years earlier, before fleeing first to Minsk then to Tashkent, the Nazis had burned alive his entire family. This is not to say that the music does not have a dark side too. The end of the sonata is tinged with sadness but it is optimism that I see as winning through.

The Twelve Miniatures for Flute and Piano Op.29 opens with a tune that not only doesn’t sound like Weinberg, but sounds French to me rather than Russian which only shows this composer cannot be pigeonholed. The second has him back firmly where you expect with a wistful little waltz, marked Arietta, while the third is a merry Burlesque, followed by a comic Capriccio. Various other moods are represented but the main feature throughout is the brilliance of these little character pieces that charm and delight in equal measure and conclude with a really lovely Pastorale. Weinberg’s sonata for solo bassoon shows his continued search for expression in music and his willingness to write for less usual instruments: his Op.108 is for solo double bass. There are very few composers that have tackled any music for solo bassoon and those that have such as Willson Osborne, Malcolm Arnold, Gordon Jacob and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen - whose piece In Freundschaft was originally written for bass clarinet and has been adapted for various other instruments - kept their works fairly short. Weinberg’s composition is a substantial one of four movements and a total length of over 21 minutes. Incidentally readers would no doubt enjoy a YouTube presentation of Stephanie Patterson playing the Stockhausen work dressed as a teddy bear which is Stockhausen’s wish fulfilled at last! Weinberg’s Bassoon Sonata from 1981 really tests the prowess of the soloist and the writing reveals an instrument capable of great beauty rescuing it from the denizens of the woodwind section where its abilities are usually confined to helping provide a background. Matthias Baier’s playing is simply superb and the piece could find no greater performer to emphasise its wonderfully melodious nature. The final work on this disc is the Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp which dates from 1979 and is yet another surprise that recalls Debussy’s late work for the same three instruments. This begins with a meditative theme on flute and viola before the harp joins in to weave its version into the fabric already established. The second movement is slow to begin with but its warm viola introduction is disturbed by trilling from the flute mirrored in the harp though calm is soon restored. The three share a lovely melody between them for a short while before a more intensive and insistent mood is created. This leads into the final movement which, though short, is more anxious in tone and powerful in execution. It ends in a final eruption from all three.

While it is self-evident that the more often any music is heard the more one gets from it there is an immediate appeal in the music on this disc. That’s something I’ve found with all of this composer’s works that I’ve heard so far. It’s a facility that should help in establishing his reputation still further and secure his place as, what many musicologists declare, the third great composer of the Soviet era after Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Weinberg often wrote music that contained satire and wit but that lacked the sardonic even mordant nature of much of Shostakovich’s works. Here was a man who, despite the terrifying experiences in his life that included spending some months in prison under Stalin, still managed to reflect hope and optimism in his music.

This disc is another fitting tribute to a composer whose works are finally emerging to enrapture new and wider audiences. The musicians on this disc have made a significant contribution to the process, all of them turning in performances of beauty and great skill. Elisaveta Blumina deserves special plaudits for her pioneering work on behalf of Weinberg; her disc of his Piano Works on CPO 777 517-2 is another great example. More please!


-- Steve Arloff , MusicWeb International

Gradually and fortunately, for some years now the extensive and highly significant oeuvre of the Polish-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg has also been discovered and recognized in the West – a process also documented on our internationally highly regarded cpo recordings. During the 1960s Weinberg’s reputation was not only restored but also soared on high – at least in the Soviet Union. Interpreters of the rank of Rostropovich, Gilels, Kondrashin, Leonid Kogan, and the Borodin Quartet joined David Oistrach in his enthusiastic propagation of Weinberg’s music. The Symphony No. 10 is the most stylistically advanced and experimental composition among his purely instrumental works. In conjunction with her research on Dmitri Shostakovich’s life, the Polish violinist and composer Evelina Novicka’s attention was also drawn to the composer Weinberg. Impressed by his compositions, she has recorded several premieres of his works, including the Concertino op. 42 and Rhapsody op. 47 heard on this most recent CD. She herself has arranged the lost version of the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes for violin and orchestra. - cpo (Translated from German text.)

Mieczyslaw Weinberg is now recognized as one of the outstanding Russian composers of the second half of the twentieth century. Fêted for his symphonies and string quartets, he also wrote a sequence of Violin Sonatas crucial to the development of his distinctive and elusive musical idiom. Shostakovich's influence is evident in the Third Violin Sonata, as are Jewish melodic elements, while the Fourth Violin Sonata is alternately somebre and hectic. His masterpiece is the Fifth Violin Sonata, symphonic in scale but subtle in form, and containing some of his most affecting writing.

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REVIEW:

Weinberg has his own way of moving between moods, is often serious, and can be suave, gruff or playful. He is estimably served by the thoughtful and responsive Russian violinist Grigory Kalinovsky, who brings clarity and variety of tone to the music, and is in turn strongly supported by Tatiana Goncharova. Together they form a terrific partnership able to project this repertoire with unstinting verve and delicacy.

– Classical Ear (Ivor Solomons)

The works on this first volume of the complete piano works of Mieczysowski range from very early yet characterful Mazurkas and the remarkably intense Lullaby, his Opus 1, to the at times dissonant Piano Sonata No 1.

The second volume of Weinberg's complete piano works ranges in date from 1950-55. Allison Brewster FranzettI 2008 GRAMMY-� Nominee for Best Instrumental Soloist without Orchestra for 20th Century Piano Sonatas on Naxos Records, Allison Brewster Franzetti has received international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for stunning virtuosity and musicality. "Allison Brewster Franzetti's impassioned and persuasive performance easily holds it's own in the select company of Gould, Perahia, Aimard, and Uchida" - Jed Distler, Classics Today.

Mieczyslav Weinberg (aka Moisey Vainberg) was in fact born and raised in Poland, but the vast majority of his compositional career was in the Soviet Union and he remained there for the rest of his life, in Minsk (now the capital of independent Belarus). He therefore comes well within the definition of 'Russian' for the purpose of this series and was certainly treated as such by the authorities. This and the succeeding album which includes the remaining three sonatas, were originally released on the now defunct Olympia label but had a relatively short life and restricted distribution, and until 2012, still the only full recordings of these very fine works. This is music which though modern is written to comply with Soviet requirements and is thus also very approachable and melodic without ever being trite or unoriginal.

The ongoing, critically acclaimed Chandos series of orchestral works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919–96) now explores some of the composer’s lesser-known late works. This disc features the last two Chamber Symphonies, which indeed reflect a largely hidden yet still prolific period of his life. The highly experienced and versatile Thord Svedlund conducts the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, here recording with Chandos for the first time. Not only is Chamber Symphony No. 4 the penultimate work that Weinberg completed, but it can also be read as a summation of his entire life and oeuvre. The elegiac mood shaping the piece echoes his last decade – of infirmity, loss and gradual decline in public and professional interest in his work. Apart from the sad, wistful last movement (Andantino) heralding No. 4, Chamber Symphony No. 3 is closely linked to his Fifth String Quartet, op. 27 through its recitative-like melody. At the same time, it perfectly justifies both the term ‘Chamber Symphony’ and the orchestra here playing it: the Helsingborg Symphony, one of Sweden’s oldest, was founded in 1912 originally as a chamber orchestra.

The seventeen string quartets of Weinberg span nearly half a century, from his student days in Warsaw to the end of his career in Moscow, and show his development as a composer more clearly than his work in any other genre. The Second Quartet, composed in 1939 – 40 whilst studying in Minsk, was dedicated to his mother and sister, who he would later learn had not survived the German invasion of Poland. Quartet No. 5, of 1945, was the first in which he added titles to each movement, and reflects the influence of Shostakovich over the young composer. The final quartet in this programme – No. 8 – was written in 1959 and dedicated to the Borodin Quartet. For many years the best-known of Weinberg’s quartets in the west, this single-movement work is divided into three sections with a coda. The Arcadia Quartet is a passionate advocate for these quartets, writing: ‘[Weinberg’s] music is like a glow of light surrounded by the darkness of the unknown, and it quickly became a goal of ours to attempt to dilute these shadows. With every recording and every live performance of his music, we intend to shine some light on this wide-ranging, profound phenomenon, which has remained overlooked for so long, and we hope that, with time, Mieczys?aw Weinberg will take his rightful place in the history of music.’

REVIEW:

The Arcadia’s evident enthusiasm for the music is perfectly conveyed here with playing that maximises the emotional range explored in each work, as well as exploiting to the full the music’s tonal and textural varieties and its underlying sense of unease. These contrasts are placed in sharp relief when comparing the relentless Bartókian ferocity they achieve in the rhythmically dynamic Scherzo from the Fifth Quartet with the easygoing geniality that is projected in the opening movement of the Second, or the austere solemnity that characterises the slow sections of the Eighth.

–BBC Music Magazine

The life of Mieczyslaw Wajnberg, full of plenty of difficulties and adversities, reflects the history of an entire generation of Polish Jews, who had to face a cruel history fueled by the forces of totalitarianism. This fate left it's mark on the composer's work, who spent most of his life in the Soviet Union. As an artist of a "wrong origin," associated with Shostakovich, Rostropovich and Salomon Michoels, and not creating politically correct music, he was never a favourite of the authorities. The cello sonatas presented here carry a considerable aesthetic and emotional load, corresponding to the composer's socio-artistic relations and his cultural roots. Young Polish musicians - cellist Wojciech Fudala and pianist Michal Rot - successfully face the difficult work of the composer, who in fact belongs to three cultural circles. The closing the album piano miniature Berceuse, Op. 1, based on a poetic Slavic melody, entwined with a quasi-impressionist accompaniment, is a preview of Mieczyslaw Wajnberg's great compositional talent being born in the pre-war Warsaw.

The 100th anniversary of Mieczyslaw Wajnberg's birth in January 2019 is an excellent opportunity to bring his works closer to the Polish audience. Although in the recent years Wajnberg's works have been performed and recorded more and more often, his music in our country is well known only to a narrow group of recipients. The album of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio conducted by Anna Duczmal-Mr�z, including three pieces by Wajnberg (Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 145, Concerto for flute and strings No. 1, Op. 75 and Chamber Symphony No. 3, Op. 153) allows the recipient to get to know various facets of the composer, starting from the influences of Neoclassicism, ending with inspiration from the works by Dimitri Shostakovich.

In recent years, Mieczyslaw Weinberg has become one of the most recognizable Polish composers of the 20th century, which was significantly influenced by the hundredth anniversary of the composer's birth in December 2019. The project of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio devoted exclusively to works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg perfectly reflects the peculiar revival related to the interest in the artist in Poland and in the world. This album is another proposal from the Amadeus Orchestra series, this time dedicated to selected symphonies, the Flute Concerto No. 2 and the Sinfonietta for string orchestra and timpani, Op. 74.

In recent years, Mieczyslaw Weinberg has become one of the most recognizable Polish composers of the 20th century, which was significantly influenced by the hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth in December 2019. The project of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio devoted exclusively to works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg perfectly reflects the peculiar revival related to the interest in the artist in Poland and in the world. This album is another proposal from the Amadeus Orchestra series, this time dedicated to selected symphonies of the Polish artist.

The music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919 - 1996) is among some of the 20th century's greatest hidden treasures. Born in Poland, Weinberg emigrated to Russia in perilous circumstances, where he was to live out the rest of his days half-way between deserved fame and unjustified neglect. Often seen in the shadow of his close friend Dimitry Shostakovich, by whom he was regarded as one of the most outstanding composers of the day, Weinberg is slowly being rediscovered as a 20th century genius, a figure of immense significance in the landscape of post-modern classical music. Weinberg's musical idiom stylistically mixes traditional and contemporary forms, combining a freely tonal, individual language inspired by Shostakovich with ethnic (Jewish, Polish, Moldovian) influences and a unique sense of form, harmony and color. His prolific output includes no less than 17 string quartets, over 20 large-scale symphonies, numerous sonatas for solo stringed instruments and piano as well as operas and film-scores. With the constant stream of recordings, score publications and concerts over the last decade, many of these gems have been unearthed to finally receive the critical praise and attention they deserve. The present release showcases his flute concertos, performed by The Silesian Chamber Orchestra with flutist Lukasz Dlugosz.

The best proof that Mieczyslaw Weinberg's music has fortunately and deservedly been experiencing a renaissance in recent years is another album devoted entirely to the person of this composer. This album entitled Weinberg � Sonatas for Violin and Piano was created on the initiative of violinist Michal Kowalczyk and pianists Dagmara Niedziela and Mateusz Rozek. The focus of the artists' interpretative vision is the multidimensionality of the composer's sound language, resulting from both the composer's tragic life experiences and him being rooted in three different cultural traditions. Each of the sonatas featured on the album seems to fully resonate with the events that were accompanying it's creation in terms of emotional expression. The recorded works, although they have just begun to make a regular appearance in concert programs, are undoubtedly a staple of the 20th-century chamber music.

RecArt presents a new album with chamber music for violin and piano of a distinguished Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg - 20th century creator compared by musicologists to Dimitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. Artist whose tragic fate intertwined with the history of the Second World War and Jewish persecution. In recording participated Ewelina Nowicka - violin and Milena Antoniewicz - piano Media patronage: TVP Kultura, Radio Merkury, Twoja Muza magazine and Culture. Pl Discovering Weinberg by Ewelina Nowicka. Weinberg's music is about magnitude - large and original phrases with evocative dynamics. We leave the music halls for the open space of freedom. Nowadays Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) is considered one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. During his lifetime Weinberg was perceived as a talented and much appreciated composer in the former USSR. He was a close friend and follower of Dmitri Shostakovich. Music lovers would even sometimes name Weinberg but really mean Shostakovich. A thorough analysis of Weinberg's compositions resulted in a clear conclusion that, although stylistically similar to Shostakovich, Weinberg's compositions are unique. Polish audience is particularly interested in raising Weinberg's profile on the European scale of contemporary classical composers. Weinberg was of Polish-Jewish origin (born in Warsaw), spoke Polish all his life, was largely influenced by the Polish culture and based his works on the Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz, Julian Tuwim and Leopold Staff. Globally, Weinberg is classified as a Russian composer of Polish-Jewish descent, known under the Russian name of Moisey Weinberg. On every day basis, however, Weinberg went by his Polish name, to which he then officially reverted in the early 1980's under the order of the court. Weinberg was born in Poland and became a promising talented piano student of J�zef Turczynski at the Warsaw Conservatory, giving his first recital at the age of 10. Weinberg attracted attention of J�zef Hofmann who wanted him to pursue further piano studies in the United States. The outbreak of World War II brought these plans to an end. In 1939, Weinberg escaped to the East. He came to Minsk where he studied composition under Vasily Zolotarev, the student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. German invasion of the Soviet Union forced Weinberg to escape further into the inland of USSR. He worked in Tashkent as a pianist at the local opera. In 1942 Weinberg wrote his first Symphony and, intuitively, sent it to Dmitri Shostakovich, who appreciated Weinberg's work and invited him to Moscow. This was the beginning of not only long friendship between the two composers but the start of creative collaboration between two equals sharing similar values and styles. Weinberg never belonged to the Communist Party and tried to distance himself from the political reality. However, he officially had to accept and support the political system. Although Weinberg was not criticised as much as Shostakovich, he was nevertheless imprisoned in 1953. Had Stalin not passed away, Weinberg would have most certainly been executed by NKVD, or deported to the Siberian gulag. What is more, within the context of these times, Weinberg had the misfortune of being the son-in-law of the great Russian-Jewish actor, Solomon Mikhoels, the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Mikhoels would travel to the United States collecting necessary finance from the American Jewish community in the fight against the Nazi Germany. The foundation of the modern State of Israel prompted hopes among Russian Jews for a formation of an autonomous Jewish Republic within the USSR. Mikhoels was in the meantime assassinated in January 1949, with his death reported as a car accident in Minsk, followed then by the official funeral in Moscow. The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was then dissolved, with it's founders either executed or detained in gulags. Weinberg survived the persecution of January 1948, but he was captured by Stalin's secret service in 1953. In that year, Stalin focused on a set-up story of the Kremlin doctors who were to be held responsible for planing to poison USSR leaders. And, unfortunate for Weinberg, Mikhoel's brother, prof. Miron Vovsi, was one of the Kremlin doctors. In 1953, a few hours after the concert performance of Weinberg's Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes opus 47/2 (for violin and orchestra) by David Oistrakh and Natan Rakhlin, Weinberg was arrested and detained at the Lubyanka under the charges of antagonising Crimea against the USSR. Shostakovich reacted to Weinberg's arrest in two ways: first, he wrote a letter to Lavrentiy Beria requesting Weinberg's release, and, at the same time, applied and won temporary custody over Weinberg's young daughter to protect her from orphanage. Shostakovich's letter made no impact. With Stalin's death in March 1953, Weinberg was released and the Kremlin doctors' story cleared. As a composer in the Soviet Union Weinberg was clearly respected and his music was often performed by the renowned instrumentalists such as Leonid Kogan, David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich. Few vinyl discs, published by the record label Melodia, were, however, distributed in the West. And, although, nowadays it is considered that the 20th century Russia had three significan composers: Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Weinberg, this was actually not the perception at that time. Globally, Weinberg, as opposed to Shostakovich, was virtually unknown as an composer. He was only recognised for his musical score to the Russian blockbuster The Cranes Are Flying; the film winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival. At the end of his life, Weinberg was seriously ill with mental depression because of the inability to continue his work. Most of all, he felt underrated as a global classical composer. Weinberg's output is impressive and includes over 150 opuses: 26 symphonies, 6 concertos, 17 string quartets, 4 cantatas and 7 operas (i.e. one of them based on the novel by Zofia Posmysz - The Passenger). The time has now come for Weinberg. Record labels such as Olympia, CPO, Naxos and Chandos have released several recordings of Weinberg's works. The conductor, Gabriel Chmura, plays a vital role in raising Weinberg's global profile. Chmura has recorded to date three CDs by Weinberg for the record label Chandos, predominantly for distribution in the United Kingdom, Europe. The discs are currently unavailable on the Polish music market. David Fanning, a British musicologist, is the only one who has written a biography about Weinberg In Search of Freedom, published in English and German by Wolke Verlag. Over the last three years, there has been a significant increase in events and articles on the composer in Poland: a Weinberg Conference was organized in 2007 by prof. Michal Bristiger who then commented further in magazines such as de Musica or Zeszyty Literackie; other articles were written by Jacek Hawryluk in Gazeta Wyborcza, by Dorota Szwarcman in Midrasz and on internet; and, finally another article was published in Ruch Muzyczny. Despite all of this, the audience is yet to discover some of Weinberg's masterpieces, such as his Concertino opus 42, Sonatina opus 46 (for violin and piano), or the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes opus 47 no. 1/3. The three-part Concertino opus 42 was written in 1948 during Stalinist attack on classical music. The background of the composition is unclear as the original manuscript is lost. The work exists in two versions: for violin and string orchestra, and for violin and piano. It's harmony and melodies take us back into Weinberg's Jewish town; with quiet cries contrasting dynamic rhythms in the later parts of this masterpiece. The Sonatina opus 46, dedicated to the Russian composer Boris Tchaikovsky, was written in 1949 and performed for the first time in 1955 by Leonid Kogan and the pianist Andrei Mitnik in Moscow. It consists of three parts: first - a lyrical one, second - mysterious, and third - focused on violin virtuosity. Finally, the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes opus 47 was written in three versions: for orchestra, for violin and orchestra, and for violin and piano. The first performance of Version 1 took place in 1949, and soon after the relevant manuscript was published. The manuscript of Version 2 is lost, but it's first performance did take place in 1953 at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and was delivered personally by Weinberg and David Oistrakh. The inspiration for the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes came directly from Weinberg's family. Moldavia, previously known as Bessarabia, was the native country of Weinberg's mother. The composer celebrated his childhood memories of the Moldavian-Jewish traditional folk tunes throughout this masterpiece. The time for Weinberg in Poland is yet to come, as one may think. The concert performances will provide full music satisfaction and prompt to discover more of Weinberg's compositions. Weinberg, without a doubt, is now a classic of the 20th century. His music by-passes trivial formal avangarde, and touches hearts and minds instead.

That art is not an end in itself, but is associated with a mission, a moral obligation, is evident in the artistic endeavor of Gidon Kremer. In his playing, the violinist has never stopped searching for truths hidden within the depth and beauty of music. "Gidon Kremer - Finding Your Own Voice" is a calm, thoughtful film about a great intellectual whose ethos, as a mediator of such truths, is alien to any form of self-aggrandizement. The release also includes a concert recording from the Gogol Center in Moscow, "Preludes to a Lost Time," the 24 Preludes op. 100 by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, which Gidon Kremer adapted for violin. The work can be regarded as a milestone in the violinist's artistic involvement with the music of this remarkable composer. Kremer performs them to projections of black-and-white images of Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus, thereby visually emphasizing the narrative power of the music.

The 24 preludes for cello solo by Mieczyslaw Weinberg have a particular history. Composed in the late sixties for Mstislav Rostropovich, he never actually played them. Their musical language is aphoristic, often brutal, provocative in it's inner conflict. It contains many different gestures and is very intense. To perform these preludes might have been problematic in the Soviet Union back then. Gidon Kremer has adapted the Preludes for solo violin and this is the world premiere recording of his adaptation. In his concerts, Kremer often plays them to projections of works by the Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkus in the background. This album was recorded at Paliesiaus Dvaras in Lithuania in December 2017.

M. WEINBERG Cello Sonatas: No. 1 in C; No. 2 in g. Solo Cello Sonata No. 1 in C • Alexander Chaushian (vc); Yevgeny Sudbin (pn) • BIS 1648 (55:45)


After a decade’s hiatus—the British label Olympia embarked on a project back in the 1990s to record anew and/or remaster from earlier Melodiya LPs much of the composer’s output—there seems to be a resurgence of interest in the music of Polish-born Mieczys?aw Weinberg, (aka Moisey Samuilovich Vaynberg) 1919–1996. That this interest now extends to a mainstream label such as BIS is encouraging, for Weinberg is considered by many to be the most important Soviet era composer to follow in the musical footsteps of Shostakovich. Though Weinberg never formally studied with him, the elder Shostakovich befriended the young man, encouraged him to move to Moscow in 1943 after the Jewish Weinberg had lost almost his entire family in the Holocaust, and interceded on his behalf when Weinberg was arrested and detained as part of Stalin’s anti-Semitic dragnets.


Despite the friendship that bonded the two men, Weinberg’s music nods respectfully at Shostakovich’s, but does not unconditionally embrace it. His catalog of works is extensive—22 symphonies, 17 string quartets, large quantities of chamber works for various combinations of instruments, solo piano pieces, and seven operas. With due gratitude to Olympia for its efforts on Weinberg’s behalf, the label’s titles seem to have disappeared from the current listings; thus, this major composer’s works are ripe for new recordings. Chandos, for one, appears to have heeded the call with new recordings of the symphonies.


Even though the connections are at times tenuous, I can say that if you appreciate Shostakovich you will respond positively to Weinberg. Not all assessments of Weinberg’s music though, have been positive. Cellist Alexander Ivashkin, for whom Schnittke wrote a number of works, has been most critical, arguing that composers such as Weinberg damaged not only their own reputations, but also that of Shostakovich himself, stating that “these works only served to kill off Shostakovich’s music, to cover it over with a scab of numerous and bad copies.”


I disagree. Clearly, the life experiences of both composers led them to dark and devastating places in their music, and often to programmatic content of mindless violence and the terrible human suffering it produced. But where Shostakovich mocks and satirizes the ugliness and deformities by painting them with a twisted, defaced mask of cheap, tawdry face-rouge, Weinberg seems to have less of a taste for the sarcastic and the sardonic. Lyudmilla Nikitina in Grove finds influences in Weinberg’s music of Bartók, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, and even Mahler, and emphasizes the “neo-classical, rationalist clarity and proportion of his works.” Then too, ethnic influences of Jewish, Polish, Armenian, Moldavian, and klezmer music are also part of the picture.


The recording of Cello Sonata No. 1 appears to be, at this time, the only one available of this work. Happily, it’s a superb one. [The other two can be found separately on Hanssler and Albany.] Cellist Alexander Chaushian distinguishes himself in all three, but really shines in the technically daunting solo sonata, a work that manages to satisfy and reward as both a virtuosic display piece and a profoundly moving piece of music. Pianist Yevgeny Sudbin has been making a splash of late with his recent recordings of Scriabin, Medtner, and Tchaikovsky. It’s easy to hear why from his playing here. He has fingers of steel guided by the caressing touch of an angel.


An outstanding release and a must-add to your collection. Incidentally, due to the number of disparate transliterations and spellings of Weinberg’s name, you will find him listed at arkivmusic.com as Moisey Samuil Vaynberg. It would be helpful if record producers and annotators came up with a consensus spelling.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Mieczyslaw Weinberg's works for flute were mainly conceived for the renowned soloist Alexander Korneyev. The earliest of these is the 12 Pieces from 1947, a playful series of character studies that touch on a variety of moods. Also from 1947, the recently rediscovered 5 Pieces draws on Debussy and the early string quartet Capriccio, Op. 11 for it's ironic good humor. The First Flute Concerto has a genial air with klezmer influences while the Second Flute Concerto, among Weinberg's last works, is often introspective and valedictory in mood. This is the first complete recording of Weinberg's entire output for accompanied flute. Flutist Claudia Stein has appeared with numerous international orchestras and performed regularly in the Bayreuth Festival orchestra. As a chamber musician she has appeared at major European festivals, as well as in Israel, America and Japan. She has worked as a soloist with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Philippe Jordan and Sebastian Weigle.

The East-West Chamber Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival and is made up of concertmasters from leading orchestras and competition laureates. On this, their debut recording, they celebrate the centenary of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's birth. Weinberg's Chamber Symphonies reflect his creativity and the dramatic times in which he lived- the formal lucidity and directness of the First and the elegiac Third- both derived from string quartets composed in the shadow of the Second World War. The East-West Chamber Orchestra is comprised of outstanding soloists, including laureates of prestigious international competitions, and concertmasters and leaders of renowned orchestras, performing on exceptional instruments including Stradivarius, Guarneris and Guadagninis.

While Weinberg was establishing his reputation in Moscow with serious music, he also composed twenty-three charming miniatures to meet the demand for children's music in the Soviet Union. These were criticized for being too sophisticated, but like the 21 Easy Pieces may be intended for audiences of all ages. Allison Brewster Franzetti renders them beautifully.

The last disc in Brewster Franzetti's highly acclaimed four single disc survey includes the deeply expressive, technically challenging and superbly varied Sonatas Nos. 5 (1956) and 6 (1960), the last of Weinberg's numbered sonatas.

The Echo Klassik prizewinner Elisaveta Blumina numbers among the outstanding female musicians of the younger generation who pursue their own paths, unaffected by any sort of “star cult.” Along with the classical piano repertoire, Elisaveta Blumina occupies herself very intensively with the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her internationally highly regarded recordings of the Soviet Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, to whose rediscovery she is tirelessly committed, are among the projects documenting this involvement. For cpo she has now recorded three sonatas by Weinberg. The clear proportions and modest length of the Sonatina op. 49 led Weinberg to rework it in 1978 in order to expand its structure, lengthen it into the Sonata op. 49, and to readjust its balance. In this sonata of classical design Weinberg further developed the spectrum of musical expression and increased the technical demands when compared to his Sonata No. 2 and the Sonatina. The Sonata op. 49 numbers among the few productions for the concert hall from this creative phase, which was reserved for intensive occupation with film music – and in particular for animated films. Emil Gilels recorded the Sonata No. 4 in 1960. Unlike the version by this dedicatee, which maintains a swift tempo, Elisaveta Blumina’s slower, more intensive playing lends greater expression to the work’s drama and grief.