Mieczysław Weinberg - Symphony No. 6; Easy Pieces for Piano (Laurent Wagner; Elisaveta Blumina)

Information

Composer: Mieczysław Weinberg

• Symphony No. 6, Op. 79
• 21 Easy Pieces, Op. 34

Konzertchor Rutheneum

Philharmonisches Orchestra Altenburg Gera

Laurent Wagner, conductor

Elisaveta Blumina, piano

Date: 2020

Label: Klanglogo

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Review

“…..the issue of war is something which has been imposed on me by my own fate and the tragic fate of my family. I consider it my moral duty to write about war and about the appalling things which have befallen people in our century." So wrote Miecysław Weinberg, and it is hard to imagine a work that better bears out that statement than the 6th Symphony.

Its five movements consist of two purely orchestral (the first and third), and three with a unison boys choir. The finale refers back to the opening, so there is a feeling of three central movements plus a prelude and a postlude.

Much – probably too much - is made of Weinberg’s close association with Shostakovich. Yes, they were friends, and yes, Weinberg owed the older composer a great debt for supporting him when, as a ‘foreigner’ arriving in Soviet Russia, he was terribly vulnerable, and found it so hard to get his works performed. But, though it is easy to spot the influence of Shostakovich in certain aspects and details, Weinberg has his own strong identity as a creative artist.

The first movement of the symphony unfolds in a leisurely way, and we encounter musical ideas that create a bleak landscape; a simple motif for solo horn, a wandering violin line, developed as a free fugato. Slowly the tension rises, eventually dissipating in a solo flute cadenza.

The second movement sets a poignant poem by Lew Kwitko, ‘The Little Violin’. Kwitko wrote this in Yiddish, and a problem now arises; the booklet gives us German and English, but no originals, which makes it very difficult, nay virtually impossible, to follow the word setting in detail. But the boys of the Rutheneum Konzertchor are quite wonderful. Yes, it’s all unison singing, nothing complex. Yet they phrase and articulate the lovely musical lines so perfectly that the delicate combination of pathos and childish humour is caught perfectly.

The third movement, Allegro molto, is a scherzo that begins like a wild folk dance, but gradually disintegrates into a violently drunken fury.

A screaming trill then leads us, by way of lurid brass and percussion, into the profound core of the work – the Largo setting of Schmuel Halkin’s devastating poem ‘A trench is dug in red clay’. The simplicity of the boys’ melodic lines in the context of the desperate groping of the instrumental parts is emotionally overwhelming, and reminds us that this music, commemorating the Babi Yar massacre of 1941, was premiered in the wake of Shostakovich’s thirteenth symphony, which is entirely concerned with the same tragedy.

Some commentators have been critical of the final movement, Andantino, feeling it is on a lower level than the rest of the work. I disagree; yes, the emotional temperature is lowered after the traumas of the previous two movements. Yet the references back to the first movement give the work a sense of historical perspective, a sense of terrible pain which, though still present, has to be lived with, and from which lessons have been learned.

The Sixth is a great symphony, and the more so for being unlike any other symphony I can think of. Laurent Wagner and his forces, especially the boys of the Konzertchor Rutheneum, have projected all the aspects of the work superbly, even if there are some passing deficiencies in the orchestral playing (intonation in the upper woodwind is occasionally sour).

The Easy Pieces for piano which follow make an inspired ‘filler’ to the disc. They are played with brilliant characterisation by Elisaveta Blumina, and are a perfect demonstration of how a composer as gifted as Weinberg, who can create large symphonic canvasses, can yet think on a tiny musical scale – only five of these twenty-six delightful miniatures last more than one minute!

— Gwyn Parry-Jones

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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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Laurent Wagner (born 1960 in Lyon) is a French conductor. After studying in France and Austria, he held positions at several European theaters before becoming General Music Director of the Saarbrücken State Theater in 1994. He subsequently worked with renowned opera houses and orchestras internationally, including as Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. From 2013 to 2020, he served as General Music Director of the Altenburg Gera Theater. Since 2020, he has taught at music universities in Leipzig and Dresden. Wagner was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite for promoting French culture.

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Elisaveta Blumina (born 13 July 1976 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a German pianist and conductor. Raised in a musical family, she studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory before continuing her piano education in Hamburg with Evgeni Koroliov and other distinguished musicians. Blumina has performed with leading orchestras and at prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. With approximately 30 albums to her credit, she is recognized for championing the music of Mieczysław Weinberg and Nikolai Kapustin. She is also a dedicated educator, chamber musician and visual artist.

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