Weinberg's Symphony no. 6 from Naxos

[M. Henriksen]

This release should be of some interest here I guess:

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572779


Morten

[petershott@btinternet.com]

No. 6, in my view, is a terrific work (a view based on the old Olympia disc and the recent Neos one).

Interesting that Naxos is issuing a work not yet in the excellent Chandos series. Given that Chandos are rolling out Weinberg at an extraordinarily leisurely pace, I wonder if Naxos are aiming to issue most the symphonies that Chandos haven't yet offered, and thus sneakily get there before Chandos?

[M. Henriksen]

That question has been discussed earlier on this forum.
Dundonnell quoted an interview where Klaus Heymann of Naxos said:

"With Chandos now, [they're recording] Weinberg—so we share it. They're doing certain symphonies. I'll ask which ones they want to do and we'll do all the others. They don't have the resources that we do in Russia and in Poland, so we do the Polish Weinberg material with the Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Russian ones we do in St. Petersburg. They do the stuff that doesn't have language and doesn't need a choir. It's very cooperative. There's a give and take. But if there's a chance of any conflict, we say you go first. Whether we sell a thousand or two thousand of a title, overall it doesn't really matter."


Morten

[Alan Howe]

A fascinating insight. Thanks, Morten, for reminding us of it.

[jasthill]

Whilst rooting around on the internet I found these tidbits on the Naxos Weinberg series. According to the information on Vladimir Lande's website (http://www.vladimirlande.com/) the Weinberg 6th is the first of four CD's of the music of Weinberg.  At least two scheduled use the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra but with no mention of repertory.
I find it fascinating searching out what Naxos has in the pipeline - for instance their Honegger symphony series has the 1st symphony assigned a catalog number but no mention of orchestra, conductor, etc.
Educated guessers are welcome to surmise for any other forthcoming releases.

[Holger]

Update: I am receiving a newsletter from ClassicsOnline with recommendations by Klaus Heymann (I cannot really remember when or why I decided to subscribe but in any case, I get it regularly and use to throw a quick glance at it at least). In the newest one, Heymann presents the Naxos recording of Weinberg's Sixth. His statement contains the following passage which confirms what Colin already told us and even gives more details:

We agreed with Chandos to split the project of recording the complete symphonies of Weinberg between us and this is the first installment of the Naxos part of the project.  Naxos will record symphonies Nos. 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19 and 22 and Chandos has recorded or will record the remaining 11.  All 11 symphonies will be recorded by the St. Peterburg State Symphony, conducted by Vladimir Lande except symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 which will be recorded by the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducted by Antoni Wit.

Fantastic news of course!

[Dundonnell]

Wow

That is indeed great news! And so refreshing to get such plans signalled up so far in advance. Record companies often keep their future recording schedules under wraps for obvious commercial reasons.

Thanks Holger for pointing this out

[petershott@btinternet.com]

"Wow" absolutely. How sensible when record companies co-operate in this way.  A simplistic thought, but co-operation surely results in fewer duplications which, from the point of view of the companies, must result in reduced sales. And then reduced sales also has a longer knock-on effect on us punters.

Just think: it was only a few years ago that the only recorded Weinberg available were those few (and variable) Olympia discs. And when that company folded up, then no more Weinberg. But now the complete set of symphonies is within sight thanks to Chandos, Naxos, and the odd Neos. A major and important composer thus begins to get his due.

But all enthusiasts for Weinberg symphonies should keep in mind there is much more to Weinberg than the symphonies. Some immensely rewarding music in fact.

[Holger]

It's really very satisfying to see how much the situation regarding the availability of Weinberg's music on CD has improved in the last few years. Of course, the prospect of having a full cycle of all 22 symphonies on CD in near future is probably a major step, not only because of general interest in symphonies but also because I remained sceptical about the actual chances - in particular, recording the vocal symphonic pieces does mean some major efforts! Therefore, getting these news from Klaus Heymann is of course a great joy.

As far as I can see, it helped a lot that the Bregenzer Festspiele focused on Weinberg in 2010, this way his music gained much attention from persons who hadn't heard of him before. There were newspaper articles, Neos brought out recordings of the performances from there and so on.

However, I also agree with Peter about the value of Weinberg's non-symphonic music. For example, there is one CD set in the Neos catalogue which is not related to the Bregenz events and that's the recording of all four solo viola sonatas by Weinberg. Do try them, that's highly rewarding music. Also, CPO have almost finished a cycle of all 17 string quartets (only one CD left), this months, they will release a disc with woodwind chamber music, there are recordings of Weinberg's violin sonatas and so on.

I recently checked Weinberg's Opus list and was delighted to see how many of his works are now available on disc. In my view, this is a great development.

[eschiss1]

I'm glad they'll be recording symphonies 8 (non-commercial recording exists) and 15 (I've seen the score), for instance. A new recording of no.12 In memoriam Shostakovich will be welcome in my opinion (though I think there's in fact yet another new recording of it on NEOS?), likewise 17-19 - and 9 and 11 I for one only know of...
Also agreed about the works other than the symphonies- such as I've heard; the string quartets I've heard so far (rather wish sometimes I'd been in Manchester UK, despite the distance, for the Danel Quartet series there that preceded/went along with their recordings for cpo), just for starters...