Weinberg: Dawn; Symphony No. 12
BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds
Chandos CHAN20165 73:33 mins
Whether or not Russia’s cultural isolation – one outcome of its war on Ukraine – has any effect on the rediscovery of Mieczysław Weinberg’s music remains to be seen, but for now the new releases keep coming. Poland’s campaign to reclaim the Warsaw-born composer who fled east from the Nazis was certainly stalled by last year’s invasion, and if that means continuing neglect of Weinberg’s songs (some based on Polish poetry) the musical world will be poorer for it. But this latest release from Chandos suggests a certain amount of barrel scraping.
That’s especially true of the symphonic poem Dawn, written in 1957 and dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Russian Revolution but not heard until 2019 when the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds gave the premiere; this is its first recording. It’s solid socialist-realist stuff, well crafted yet unmemorable. Weinberg is often unfairly described as second-hand Shostakovich, when in fact their shared influences – common currency among Soviet composers of the time – worked both ways, but Dawn does sound like a second or third pressing of one of Shostakovich’s occasional pieces.
The Symphony No. 12 of 1975/6 was subtitled ‘In memoriam D. Shostakovich’, yet despite noble intentions met resistance from no less a conductor than Kirill Kondrashin, who declared it too long. He was right. There are striking passages, not least in the Scherzo and in the ambiguous marimba solos that launch an enigmatic finale, but for all the dedication of Storgårds and his orchestra this is one only for Weinberg completists. John Allison