Nikolai Myaskovsky; Mieczysław Weinberg - Violin Concertos (Ilya Grubert)

Information

Composer: Nikolai Myaskovsky; Mieczysław Weinberg

• (01-03) Myaskovsky - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 44
• (04-07) Weinberg - Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 67

Ilya Grubert, violin
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Dmitry Yablonsky, conductor

Date: 2003
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557194

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Review

An important volume in the library of Russian violin concertos

For many years these concertos were closely identified with their dedicatees, the Myaskovsky with David Oistrakh, the Weinberg (or Vainberg) with Leonid Kogan. More recently Vadim Repin recorded the former as a makeweight for the ubiquitous Tchaikovsky concerto, not a pairing with much appeal for specialist collectors. Repin, like Grubert, is placed close enough to mask orchestral detail, and his glorious tone colour is, for me, fatally compromised by Philips’s harsh yet woolly sound engineering. Grubert may be a less accomplished musician, his intonation is not quite flawless and his expressive range is narrower, but his instrument is reproduced more faithfully, and he is sympathetically accompanied by Yablonsky’s pick-up orchestra.

Gergiev, for Repin, can be unhelpfully brusque for all that his band is no ad hoc group. Traditional as it is, this is music that reveals its innermost secrets slowly, and its self-effacing brand of eloquence needs space. Not that either version quite convinces in the first movement’s interminable cadenza. You’d have to go back to Oistrakh’s 78s for that (there have been transfers on Pearl, Dante Lys and Classica d’Oro).

The edgier, less direct companion concerto dates from 1959 and a substantial utterance it proves to be. There are four movements. As such it is plainly indebted to Shostakovich, Weinberg’s friend and sometime protector, although there is arguably less overt ‘Jewishness’ here than in Shostakovich’s own First Violin Concerto, and there’s certainly more Bartók. The composer’s growing body of fans will tell you that the influence ran both ways. Polish-born and later resident in Moscow (hence the confusion over nomenclature), Weinberg very nearly fell victim to Stalin’s final anti-Semitic campaign, having earlier lost his family to the Nazis.

Naxos provides helpful notes by Per Skans, tracing the links between the Soviet composers and, at its modest asking price, this attractive package is well worth acquiring. True, it’s not all plain sailing. Some listeners will have difficulty with the soloist’s high-lying passages in the first movement of the Myaskovsky – disaster strikes at 6'10" – while the more strenuous stretches of the Weinberg do tend to grate on the ear. What matters is that both works deserve, and should now receive, a wider hearing.

-- David Gutman, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/apr04/myaskovsky_Vainberg.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs57194a.php
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.557194&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Violin-Concertos-MYASKOVSKY-VAINBERG/dp/B0000DJEM3

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Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 in Warsaw – 26 February 1996 in Moscow) was a Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish origin. From 1939 he lived in the Soviet Union and Russia and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. He left a large body of work that included twenty-two symphonies and seventeen string quartets. Weinberg's works frequently have a strong programmatic element. Throughout his life, he continually referred back to his formative years in Warsaw and to the war. Although he never formally studied with Shostakovich, the older composer had an obvious influence on Weinberg's music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mieczys%C5%82aw_Weinberg

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Nikolai Myaskovsky (20 April [O.S. 8 April] 1881 – 8 August 1950) was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony". Myaskovsky wrote a total of 27 symphonies (plus three sinfoniettas, three concertos and works in other orchestral genres), 13 string quartets, 9 piano sonatas as well as many miniatures and vocal works. He is professor of composition at Moscow Conservatory from 1921 until his death, and há an important influence on his pupils. His students include big names such as  Aram Khachaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Rodion Shchedrin and Boris Tchaikovsky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Myaskovsky

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Ilya Grubert (born 13 May 1954 in Riga) is a Latvian classical violinist and a professor. Grubert began his violin studies at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. He later studied at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatory with Yuri Yankelevich, Zinaida Gilels, and Leonid Kogan. Grubert is a multiple prizewinner of prestigious violin competitions and has had a distinguished career as a soloist, performing with famous orchestras and conductors. Now Grubert lives in the Netherlands and is a professor at the Amsterdam Conservatory and at the University of Minho.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Grubert
http://www.ilyagrubert.com/

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