Mieczysław Weinberg - Sonatas for Violin Solo (Gidon Kremer)

Information

Composer: Mieczysław Weinberg

• Sonata No. 3, Op. 126
• Sonata No. 2, Op. 95
• Sonata No. 1, Op. 82

Gidon Kremer, violin

Date: 2022

Label: ECM

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Review

The unaccompanied sonatas for strings (four each for viola and cello, three for violin and one for double bass) might be thought Weinberg’s greatest achievement – composing on this scale for a solo instrument leaving nowhere to hide in terms of technique and inspiration. It’s understandable that Gidon Kremer should have wanted to record those for violin, not least since they make for a convincing overview of the considerable changes in Weinberg’s idiom from the early 1960s.

The earlier two works were dedicated to Mikhail Fichtenholz. The First Sonata (1964) finds Weinberg’s conception of the solo sonata at its most uncompromising – notably with the terse opening Allegro and combative final Presto. In between are a darkly musing Andante, edgily humorous Allegretto and searching Lento, all unfolding with an inevitability and poise that underline the composer’s confidence in inhabiting a genre that has been dominated for all time by Bach.

Less unyielding in its formal and expressive abstraction, the Second Sonata (1967) unfolds as seven character studies that, between them, seem suggestive of a baroque dance suite most likely intended to entertain as much as to provoke. Even so, their incrementally increasing length goes hand in hand with gradually accumulating tension such that the finale’s headlong impetus and bristling syncopation leave the deadpan humour of the initial ‘Monody’ appreciably behind.

The Third Sonata (1979) was written for Victor Pikaizen and dedicated to the memory of the composer’s father. It unfolds as a continuous span that can be heard as several interrelated movements but (pace Kremer’s pertinent scenario) feels more akin to unfolding variations on motifs announced at the outset. What results is a heady succession of mood and textures that confirms Weinberg’s technical and creative resource when confronting apparent restrictions.

All three sonatas are now well represented on record. Those who already have Linus Roth’s tensile and vividly projected accounts (presented in chronological order along with ‘fantastic’ interludes courtesy of Shostakovich) or Yuri Kalnits’s more circumspect yet no less perceptive readings can rest content. Otherwise, this release – in sound of spaciousness and clarity, with booklet notes providing much food for thought – is a definite first choice for these outstanding pieces.

— Richard Whitehouse

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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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Gidon Kremer (born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian violinist. Studied under David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory, he won major international awards, including prizes at the Queen Elisabeth and the Tchaikovsky Competitions. Renowned for his artistic originality, Kremer has performed worldwide and championed contemporary composers such as Alfred Schnittke and Arvo Pärt. An exceptionally prolific recording artist, he has recorded over 120 albums and received numerous honors. In 1997, he founded the Kremerata Baltica, further strengthening his influence as performer, mentor and advocate for modern music.

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