Search - Vainberg, Gothenburg Quartet :: String Quartets 1, 10 & 17

From Soviet despotism to the tyranny of the classical music

Cheryomushki | Old Town, ME USA | 01/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If, like me, you were first inclined to listen to chamber music from western Europe, you could now find in Russian/Soviet music a unique expression of musical creativity in the face of human adversity and ideological conformity. In this particular artistic environment, Dmitri Shostakovich's 15 string quartets and his piano quintet, as recorded by the Borodin Quartet (Melodiya 74321 40712-17 2), all constitute testimonies of this great composer's resolve not to compromise his art, integrity and ingenuity to Soviet despotism. Similarly to Shostakovich, with whom he was well acquainted, Mieczyslaw (Moshei) Vainberg or Weinberg (1919-1996)was both prolific in his composition of chamber music as well as firmly determined to avoid self-censorship.

Unfortunately, Vainberg's magnificient chamber music, mainly conceived within the "evil empire" before Gorbachev, has yet to overcome the iron curtain of our own cultural barriers and its corresponding commercial tyranny. In contrast to our extensive "discographies" for Russia's "adopted" sons -- Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, in particular-- it is simply impossible to evaluate the performance of his chamber music either because there only exists a single artistic rendition of his work or none whatsoever.

Olympia's issue of Vainberg's string quartets 1, 10, and 17, as interpreted by the Gothenburg Quartet, in 1997, does not strike me as being of the same caliber than a Borodin Quartet rendition of Shostakovich's work or a Taneyev Quartet rendition of Myaskovsky's work. The Swedish ensemble had just recently constituted the Gothenburg Quartet and it was reportedly "the first quartet outside Russia to perform a quartet by Vainberg." Hence, one should not expect any remarkable cultural insight on their part. Their performance tends to be conservative with respect to the pulse of Vainberg's chamber music, its spirited determination to leave nobody indifferent. Their conservative detachment, I assume, should not result in such a dramatic contrast between these three quartets and the composer's cello sonatas (Russian Disc RD CD 11 026 and Olympia OCD 643), as well as his chamber symphonies (Olympia OCD 591, 651, 652).

One can justifiably wonder why Olympia, then otherwise committed to overcoming the cultural iron curtain between Western classical music lovers and the likes of Myaskovsky, Shebalin, and Kabalevsky, opted for such a young quartet, seemingly just acquainted with Vainberg's chamber music. But in this global market of cultural imperatives, their performance remains a "world premiere recording" and, notwithstanding what I perceive as probable shortcomings, this Olympia record truly constitutes a rare item worth two or three times its original market value."