Ștefan Neaga (1900-1951): Dniester

[Christopher]

I hesitated for weeks before deciding to post this.  Eventually I sought Mark's advice and he gave the go-ahead. I wrote to him as follows:

Dniester symphonic poem (or "Poemul Nistrului").  When I first heard it, I thought "not UC style" but the more I listen to it, the more I am changing my view.  To me it's like a cross between Barber (Adagio for strings) with Tchaikovsky (when the strings are in full flow later in the piece). And a bit of Bortkiewicz thrown in.  Mark himself wrote "I'd describe the idiom as basically romantic (not even that late with all that Tchaikovskian writing for the strings, as you say), but with the odd scrunchy harmony thrown in from time to time" - which puts it better than I did!

It was written in 1943, which I appreciate is outside our loose guideline of 1918. It's about 18 minutes long. Ștefan Neaga himself lived from 1900 to 1951 and was Moldovan. The Dniester is a large river in Moldova and Ukraine (called "Nistru" in Romanian/Moldovan).

Two available versions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=quSMwBJhv5Q (Part 1) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfkKCyePsIo  (Part 2) - studio (professional?) recording (artists and year unknown)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NniY-bydsWk - live concert recording in the Chisinau music academy, 2016.

According to the blurb under one of the youtubes "Ștefan Neaga was a exceptional talented moldavian composer, pianist and conductor. This piece is about the second World War, that is represented in the main theme, and about force of nation, that is represented in second theme written in the rhythm of Hora." - It is certainly a very agonised and tormented piece of music in parts.  For all the composer's apparent adulation of Stalin (acc to wikipedia "Neaga said that he wanted to represent with his work "the creativity and love of Great Stalin, the certainty of the victory of communism..."), it lacks that bombast that so many composers of that period of early Soviet history felt it necessary to include - so possibly his adulation was (as so often) insincere, if necessary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ștefan_Neaga

[Alan Howe]

Well, it's nothing like the Barber. More like Khatchaturian in popular mode. Rather nice actually. Järvi would do this brilliantly.

A word of advice: don't listen to the very mediocre second recording mentioned. Try the studio one in two parts.

[Christopher]

Well, it's nothing like the Barber. More like Khatchaturian in popular mode. 

Oooh no there's definitely a Barbery Adagio for Strings bit, very brief but it's there, near the beginning.  Very mournful.

[Mark Thomas]

It's a worthwhile find and an enjoyable piece that I'm pleased to get to know, though it perhaps exhibits that common late-romantic tendency of meandering a bit. Alan's right, by the way, the studio recording is greatly to be preferred.

[Alan Howe]

very brief but it's there

Must have missed it...

[Christopher]

Just thinking of when this was written - 1943 (acc to wikipedia).

In 1940, the USSR issued an ultimatum to Romania requesting (demanding...) the cession of Bessarabia (which largely corresponds to today's Moldova) and northern Bukovina (in present-day Ukraine), with which Romania complied the following day. The former became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR). In 1941, Axis-aligned Romania regained the territories as part of the German invasion of the USSR (and soon after killed or deported most of the territory's large Jewish population). The Soviets recaptured the territory throughout 1944 and re-established the MSSR.  Soviet periods of control saw mass arrests, deportations to the Urals and summary executions.

Neaga's purported statement that "he wanted to represent with his work 'the creativity and love of Great Stalin, the certainty of the victory of communism'" should be seen in this context.  He was operating in an atmosphere of terror when it wasn't clear from month to month to which state his country belonged and in which direction loyalties should best be expressed.  The piece contains a recurring "doina" motif (the one played with the solo flute), very traditional in Romania (and Moldova - and often played on a shepherd's flute or kaval) - I wonder if this could have been a coded expression of where his sympathy lay.

[semloh]

Christopher, thanks for uploading the music. My first reaction was that it's a very enjoyable pastiche, but your suggestion above adds a more serious dimension.

[Christopher]

Apparently the Philharmonia in Moldova recently burned down, destroying the scores of music by the country's composers - all unsung, from an unsung country, and doubtless some from "our" era, such as Neaga and Coca (covered in another thread).  I doubt there were copies of much of it.  A real cultural tragedy.

https://slippedisc.com/2020/09/horror-national-concert-call-burns-to-the-ground/

[Mark Thomas]

That's sad, especially for such a small country trying to preserve its cultural heritage.

[tpaloj]

That is so sad and really very unfortunate. Despite best precautions taken this could as well happen in any country or place.

Given that most libraries and music institutions are still restricted from admitting too many customers in and there are very few events going on, it'd be a good time to be digitizing those music archives right now...

[Alan Howe]

I'm very sorry to hear this terrible news.

[semloh]

Yes, sad to hear this. Another report at:
https://balkaninsight.com/2020/09/25/huge-blaze-consumes-national-philharmonic-in-moldova/

Off track a little, but it raises the question as to how much value political leaders, who hold the purse strings, place on their nation's cultural capital. Protecting culturally valuable artefacts - whether a Gothic cathedral or a music score - should an imperative.

I must go back and listen to those YouTube pieces.

[Christopher]

Sadly, in countries where corruption rules, I think little or no value is placed in their cultural capital.  Witness the tearing down of historical buildings to make way for high-yielding multi-story buildings, which fill the coffers of developers, landlords and city hall officials who hand out the permits.  Their also genuine confusion when outsiders come in and express deep interest in their culture, whther it be music, art, architecture or whatever.