Mieczysław Weinberg - Clarinet Music (Robert Oberaigner)

Information

Composer: Mieczysław Weinberg

• Clarinet Concerto, Op. 104
• Clarinet Sonata, Op. 28
• Chamber Symphony No. 4, Op. 153

Robert Oberaigner, clarinet

Dresden Chamber Soloists

Michail Jurowski, conductor

Michael Schöch, piano

Date: 2020

Label: Naxos

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Review

Weinberg’s works for wind instruments have been less well served on disc than those for strings. His three works for solo clarinet have all been recorded before, more than once (though not all have remained long in the catalogue), but this is the first time they have been gathered on one disc – and, at 83 minutes, a very generously filled one.

The Clarinet Sonata (1945) is the earliest work here and has received several recordings since its publication about 15 years ago, arguably most appealingly hitherto by Elisaveta Blumina and Wenzel Fuchs in a programme of Weinberg chamber works for winds (CPO, 2012). David Gutman was mightily impressed with what I assume was its first recording (RCA, 1/07 – nla) and in this new, vibrantly played account it is not hard to hear why. There is a wealth of melody within its three movements, fast-faster-slow, the final Adagio the work’s impassioned dark heart. Oberaigner and Schöch audibly have its measure.

Weinberg was a natural writer for clarinet as averred in every bar of the Concerto (1970), which has string orchestral accompaniment. It is an enormously impressive work of at times spectral introspection offset by more ebullient, even hectic activity. The central Andante is built around a meltingly lovely, if elegiac theme, drawing forth playing of heartfelt expressivity from Oberaigner and the Dresden Chamber Soloists. They are on their mettle, too, in the Fourth Chamber Symphony (1992), Weinberg’s final completed work and the one with the most Shostakovian aspect (but not really character). It has appeared on disc most often of the three here, most recently from Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Jurowski’s is scarcely less impressive, the equal of Svedlund’s pioneering account. Oberaigner comes in and out of focus, necessarily – this is no concerto, after all – but the sense of ensemble is most acute. The players do not put a foot (finger) wrong. Naxos’s sound is first-rate.

— Guy Rickards

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Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 – 26 February 1996) was a Polish-born Soviet and Russian composer and pianist. Born in Warsaw to a family connected with Yiddish theatre, he fled Poland in 1939 following the German invasion and settled in the Soviet Union, where he gained the support of Dmitri Shostakovich. Weinberg became a prolific and respected composer, particularly during the 1960s, when his concert and film music achieved considerable recognition. His later years were marked by declining health and reduced official support. International appreciation of his music grew significantly in the 1990s.

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Born in Hall in Tirol, Austrian clarinetist Robert Oberaigner studied in Austria and Germany, and completed his training under Sabine Meyer. After early competition successes and a solo debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus at age 19, he established an international career performing at prestigious venues and festivals alongside leading musicians. He specializes in historical clarinets and performs with ensembles including Concerto Köln and the Dresden Festival Orchestra. From 2002 to 2013, he served as principal clarinettist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. Since 2014, he has been principal clarinetist of the Staatskapelle Dresden.

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