Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Symphony No. 4; Sinfonietta No. 2 (Gabriel Chmura)

Information

Composer: Mieczysław Weinberg

• (01) Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 61
• (05) Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes, Op. 47 No. 1
• (06) Sinfonietta No. 2 in A minor, Op. 74

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gabriel Chmura, conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010237

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s (Vainberg’s) Fourth Symphony was admired by Shostakovich, as was the composer generally. Indeed, it seems that Shostakovich regarded Weinberg as his only serious rival after the death of Prokofiev, and with reason. The two composers have much in common in terms of both style and general emotional ambience, but there are differences as well. Weinberg’s quick music has a comparatively light, scherzando quality produced by driving tempos, rapid string ostinatos, and (where applicable) soloistic treatment of woodwinds and brass. This, combined with a certain dryness of harmony and thematic material, as well as buoyant rhythms, gives the impression of Shostakovich’s intensity of utterance mixed with touches of neoclassical Hindemith, or even Stravinsky. It’s certainly a personal recipe, and while the music’s somewhat gaunt exterior doesn’t seem designed to win it friends on superficial acquaintance, it will grow on you given sufficient time.

The Fourth Symphony has two frenetic outer movements enfolding two wistful, bittersweet inner ones. It lasts about half an hour, from its grimly driving opening toccata to a high-spirited conclusion. The Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes is exactly what you might expect from the title, an attractive selection of folk melodies a bit similar to Kodály’s Dances of Galanta, and every bit as skillfully arranged and scored. Without question Weinberg was a master craftsman, one of the qualities that Shostakovich valued in him, although in the Second Sinfonietta (for strings and timpani) it sometimes sounds as though craft has overwhelmed inspiration. The piece is certainly well-written, and unconventionally structured, with a slow and only intermittently expressive finale that I found disappointingly deadpan. The performances, though, are certainly idiomatically played and very well recorded–full of energy, with the difficult trumpet and woodwind solos in the symphony confidently projected. If you’re interested in Shostakovich and his better contemporaries, then you should hear this.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

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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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Gabriel Chmura (born 1946 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish conductor. Chmura grew up in Israel, where he studied at the Music Academy of Tel Aviv. He then studied conducting with Pierre Dervaux in Paris, Hans Swarowsky in Vienna and Franco Ferrara in Siena. In 1971 he was the first prize winner in the Herbert von Karajan Competition in Berlin. He has directed orchestras in Germany (Aachen , Bochum) and Canada (Ottawa). During 2001-07 period, he was the artistic director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (Katowice), with which he recorded works by Mieczysław Weinberg for Chandos Classics.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Chmura
http://www.chmura.cc/

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