M. Steinberg Symphony No.5

[dhibbard]

I have a copy of some fragments from Sym #5 that was recorded apparently by someone attending the St. Petersburg Symphony concert of Steinberg's Symphony no 5 with someone talking almost incessantly thru the fragments and a baby crying in some parts.. almost painful to listen to.   I do have the score and could follow along fairly well.   Just wondered if anyone had a better recording of Shteinberg's Symphony no 5.  I had heard there will be one issued perhaps on Dutton??

[eschiss1]

Given the trouncing (or twixt a trouncing and a trawn) people on this group seem to have given symphony no.4(I haven't listened to the once-on-YouTube recording - which we thought was a first-movement-lacking torso- in awhile- and haven't heard the new recording either, so don't have an opinion myself, I fear) I expect there won't be much expectation that Steinberg's Simfoniia-Rapsodiia on Uzbek themes (Sym.5) will be much either- ... still... if it means they'll record his third symphony (which I don't yet know), re-record the first two symphonies, record the string quartets (I've only heard the first, which is a fine piece), etc. etc.- then I say "go ahead!" (And anyway, expecting a composer to sound the same over a 40-year span is asking them not to change or grow. They needn't grow in any -particular- way or direction, and often won't in a way I like, but I have to consider, what does it mean if they don't at all? Even Grechaninov, who I noted was composing remarkably, almost incredibly, Borodinesque music in 1923, soon after composed a string quartet (his 4th) which, of course, still now receives criticism because it's _doesn't_ sound the same as his first three quartets...

[eschiss1]

btw was he related to Shimon/Simon/Semen Shteinberg (1887-1955) (who also composed a violin concerto, 6 quartets, along with much dramatic music - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Shteynberg) (Shimon composed a violin concerto in 1947, Max in 1946, an interesting coincidence.)

[semloh]

Eric, when you said ...if it means they'll record his third symphony (which I don't yet know), re-record the first two symphonies, record the string quartets (I've only heard the first, which is a fine piece), etc. etc.- then I say "go ahead!" were you suggesting that Jarvi's DGG recording of the 2nd is not so good?

[eschiss1]

No (prematurely senile that I am, I need to go check to see if I'm sure I've heard those two DG discs- which I'll go do or do again soon, I think...), --but then I absolutely treasure his earlier recording (of 3?) of Stenhammar's G minor symphony (and other recordings of his, some of rather more "modern" music, including an important Prokofiev opera of 90 years ago (so _recent!..._... but nevermind, tangent...))--...

but wouldn't suggest that should be the only recording that work (or the other) should ever have received from that point on (nor was it, and that's a good thing!) (Just as it's good that there've been - two? - series of Eduard Tubin's symphonies after his, and this doesn't diminish the extremely high quality of his own. It's not only literal gems that are "multifaceted", apologies for poetasting.)

[dhibbard]

Of course,  Sym no 1 and no 2 are available on the DG label.  No 4 was recently released on the Dutton label.  (Maximilian Steinberg: Violin Concerto, Symphony No. 4 "Turksib")    Interesting that Sym no 5 was published so late??!?

[Alan Howe]

Here's a reminder of the available CDs:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=maximilian+steinberg

[eschiss1]

Took a look at rsl.ru (using lots of translation) to see if Worldcat in claiming this was missing anything obvious and as near as I can tell, you're right, the 5th of 1942, unlike the others which seem to have received _relatively_ rapid publication (symphony no.3 published- and composed in??? - 1928, e.g.?; symphony no.4 delayed a few years, symphony no.1 delayed 5 years or so, etc.) wasn't published until 1986. Well, that happens for any reasons or none?...

[Christopher]

Here's a reminder of the available CDs:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=maximilian+steinberg

Amazon has mislabelled the last one (a CD called SCENA) as Maximilian Steinberg.  If you look at the image of the back cover, it's actually a Paul Steinberg.

There's also "Les Métamorphoses Suite, Op. 10" ( http://amzn.eu/2oRgFKE ) and two short excerpts from his ballet Till Eulenspiegel (Dance of the buffoons, and Dance of Gilina - http://amzn.eu/dOJpq9a )

[Alan Howe]

How annoying. Thanks for the correction.

[Christopher]

How annoying. Thanks for the correction.

I should take commission from Amazon!

[dhibbard]

yes you are correct, the 5th was written in 1942 and was published in 1986  with the parts published in 1986.  Maybe that's why the recent interest.   I have no idea why it was published 44 years later..

[dhibbard]

interesting question...  if the score says Copyright Soviet Compositor (Leningrad Branch)... who owns the copyright and performance rights after the USSR disappeared as a legal entity??

[eschiss1]

Kompozitor Leningrad still exists, I think? See Worldcat reference to 2014 publication by them. (And a few years after the fall of the USSR, treaties were passed between the successor states including Russia and at least parts of the West regarding copyright, I believe. Also, works that found Western publishers during those years just needed for those publishers to renew those copyrights properly to maintain US copyright...)

[Christopher]

interesting question...  if the score says Copyright Soviet Compositor (Leningrad Branch)... who owns the copyright and performance rights after the USSR disappeared as a legal entity??

At the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, one of its 15 constituent republics, the Russian Federation ("RSFSR") declared itself to be "the continuator state of the USSR" on the grounds that it contained 51% of the population of the USSR and 77% of its territory. In consequence, Russia agreed that it would acquire the USSR's seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. This was also accepted by the rest of the former states of the USSR (or, at least,  the 11 member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)). This was held to apply to all treaties, conventions, obligations etc - including copyright.

So, potentially, difficulties only arise with the three Baltic states (and Steinberg was born in Lithuania...) - an important tenet of the modern states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is that their incorporation into the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 constituted an illegal occupation. In 1991 when each Baltic state regained their independence they claimed continuity directly from their pre-1940 status. Many other states (though not Russia) share this view, and as such these states were not considered to be either predecessor or successor states of the Soviet Union. As a consequence, the Baltic states were able to simply re-establish diplomatic relations with many countries, re-affirm pre-1940 treaties still in force, and resume membership to many international organisations.