CD ECM Records Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica - Mieczyslaw Weinberg

2014

Gidon Kremer - vioara, dirijor
Daniil Grishin - viola
Giedre Dirvanauskaite - violoncel
Daniil Trifonov - pian
Kremerata Baltica

Mieczysław Weinberg:
- Sonate Nr. 3 Op. 126
- Trio Op. 48
- Sonatine Op. 46
- Concertino Op. 42
- Symphonie No. 10 Op. 98

The music of Mieczysław Weinberg is finally beginning to get the hearing it has long deserved. Weinberg’s lifetime spanned the 20th century: born 1919 in Warsaw, he died 1996 in Moscow, in semi-obscurity. Along the way, his allies and supporters had included Dmitri Shostakovich, who considered him one of the great composers of the age. This double album with the Kremerata Baltica, recorded in Neuhardenberg and Lockenhaus, makes a good case for that claim. Effectively a portrait album, it begins with Weinberg’s extraordinary Violin Sonata No. 3, brilliantly performed by Gidon Kremer, and proceeds from chamber music works (the Sonatina op. 46, the Trio op. 48) to strikingly-contrasting compositions for string orchestra, the graceful Concertino op. 42 inspired by the late-romantic idiom, and the adventurous Symphony no 10, bringing12-tone rows and chordal structure into unexpected juxtapositions.

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Perhaps you have observed the recent explosion of Weinberg recordings and are wondering whether the pendulum may have swung too far in his favour. Perhaps you have sampled some of the alternative versions in the repertoire of Gidon Kremer’s new two-disc set and are doubtful as to whether it is worth the extra outlay. Either way, I can’t recommend the new issue too highly. Kremer brings not just his unmistakable wiry sound quality to bear but also a sheer force of musical personality that brings the music off the page in a way that only the greatest Weinberg recordings do [...] this is Weinberg at his most exploratory, even experimental; if you think to hear Schnittke’s First Concerto grosso in the background, bear in mind that it was written nearly 10 years later. It needs a performance of unwavering focus, huge range of colour and consummate individual and corporate agility to bring it off. Which is exactly what it gets here.
David Fanning, Gramophone

Gidon Kremer’s excellent Kremerata Baltica and fine soloists explore Weinberg’s chamber music and powerful Symphony No. 10 – arrestingly varied stuff, ranging from late Romanticism to stringent neo-Classicism and passages of real anguish.
Richard Morrison, The Times

The affinities between the music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and his good friend Dmitri Shoastakovich are as obvious as the Beethoven/Brahms connection, which caused the latter to say ‘Any fool can see that’. Those affinites permeate the early works here, Weinberg’s sole String Trio, the sonatina for violin and piano, and the concertino for violin and strings, all written shortly after the second World War. The later pieces – the Symphony No 10 of 1968 and the Sonata No 3 for solo violin of 1979 – are of a different cut, more adventurous and often sonically harsher. The gripping solo sonata is a real discovery, and Gidon Kremer regards it as worth a 20-century place alongside Bartók’s towering solo sonata. He certainly handles the work with that level of conviction.
Michael Dervan, Irish Times

Weinberg's Symphony no 10 was premiered by Rudolf Barshai in 1968, and the style is much more arresting. It's freely atonal in places, always emotionally highly-charged. Gidon Kremer's performance is gripping – the violent outbursts thrillingly visceral, and the furious, bright closing chord a haunting, unforgettable sound. Weinberg's unsettling 1979 Sonata no 3 for solo violin completes the anthology, a passionate, personal work dedicated to the memory of the composer's father. Kremer's performance might well convince you that this is one of the great works for solo violin. Good sleeve art too. This is a self-recommending introduction to a fascinating, elusive figure.
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk