Weinberg: Symphony No. 20 & Cello Concerto Claes Gunnarsson, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Thord Svedlund

• Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919 - 1996): Symphony No. 20, Op. 150:
• 1Weinberg: Symphony No. 20, Op. 150: I. Adagio - Meno mosso - Meno mosso12:54
• 2Weinberg: Symphony No. 20, Op. 150: II. Allegretto - Coda04:50
• 3Weinberg: Symphony No. 20, Op. 150: III. Con moto05:17
• 4Weinberg: Symphony No. 20, Op. 150: IV. Allegro molto04:32
• 5Weinberg: Symphony No. 20, Op. 150: V. Lento - Meno mosso12:16
• Cello Concerto in D Minor, Op. 43:
• 6Weinberg: Cello Concerto in D Minor, Op. 43: I. Adagio07:20
• 7Weinberg: Cello Concerto in D Minor, Op. 43: II. Moderato - Lento05:42
• 8Weinberg: Cello Concerto in D Minor, Op. 43: III. Allegro08:44
• 9Weinberg: Cello Concerto in D Minor, Op. 43: IV. Allegro - Adagio - Meno mosso09:18
• Total Runtime01:10:53

Info for Weinberg: Symphony No. 20 & Cello Concerto

This is the fourth album in our series dedicated to the orchestral works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Thord Svedlund. The cello soloist is Claes Gunnarsson, one of Sweden’s leading cellists, who combines the post as Principal Cello of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with a brilliant solo career.

After the Second World War, along with many other composers, Weinberg was subjected to a series of campaigns against so-called Formalism in the Soviet arts. As a result he turned his attention to concertante works, a medium less prone to censure than symphonies, sonatas, and quartets. The first movement of the Cello Concerto shares the tense, pensive lyricism found in the opening Nocturne of Shostakovich’s almost exactly contemporaneous First Violin Concerto. This later gives way to the rhythms of a habanera and some impassioned passages of Jewish klezmer, almost as if to guarantee a healthy quota of folk-rooted intonations (a required antidote to charges of Formalism), while at the same time allowing for deeper emotions too.

In the 1970s, Weinberg’s symphonic production went in two distinct but complementary directions. One of these was at the patriotic end of the Socialist Realist spectrum, while the other was much more abstract. Weinberg’s highly austere five-movement Symphony No. 20 clearly falls into the latter category – challenging, perplexing, and unpredictable. In the second scherzo Weinberg quotes from his opera The Portrait, based on a short story by Gogol. In fact, the finale perfectly captures the mood of the opera’s closing scenes, in which the artist protagonist realises that he has betrayed his calling, and sinks into delirium and eventual death.

"... it would be difficult to imagine a more assured and committed performance than is provided by the Gothenburg Symphony under Thord Svedlund ..." (Erik Levi, BBC Music magazine)

"There is no way to prepare the new listener for Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s cello concerto. I cannot describe its emotional tenor: the concerto’s opening throws aside all pretensions, all formal dress, and simply exposes its heart. The work’s full power works upon you within ten secondsGunnarsson is so good that this performance will be mandatory for much more than just the extraordinary sound qualityIt is entirely Weinberg’s, and it is a masterpiece. It deserves to be a mainstay of every cellist’s repertoire, alongside Dvorák, Elgar, and Shostakovich, and if in a decade or two it has received the attention it deserves, we will have Chandos and soloist Claes Gunnarsson to thank." (Brian Reinhart, MusicWeb International)

"With the general increase in the popularity of Dmitry Shostakovich's music, that of his protégé Mieczyslaw Weinberg has also been gaining a hearing outside the former East Bloc. A Polish-born Jew, Weinberg survived two waves of Nazi invasion only to find himself buffeted by the same political forces as Shostakovich, by then his mentor, in the postwar Soviet Union. The Cello Concerto in C minor, Op. 43, dating from 1948, is parallel to Shostakovich's works of enforced conservatism from that period, but is somehow more joyful and genuinely melodic. More interesting is the Symphony No. 20, Op. 150, written in 1988 and here receiving its premiere recording. It's a roughly symmetrical five-movement work, on a large orchestral canvas, with slow movements with continuous melody on the outside, scherzo-like pieces of contrasting character second and fourth, and an extremely unusual centerpiece that seems to lose its integrity as it goes along. Weinberg in his later years seems to have tried to pursue avenues suggested by Shostakovich's very personal late works, and this piece, down to the Mahlerian feel, is in that vein. It's not Shostakovich, but it's quite absorbing, and the performances by Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra are clean and on top of Weinberg's long lines in the outer movements of the symphony. A strong entry in the catalog of a composer on the rise." (James Manheim, AMG)

Claes Gunnarsson, cello Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Thord Svedlund, conductor

Claes Gunnarsson
Born in Gothenburg, Sweden Claes started to learn the cello and the piano at the age of seven. He entered the Gothenburg College of Music in 1992 where he got his Master of Music and Soloist Diploma. 1996-99 he was a student at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, studying with the world renowned cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.

As one of the leading cellists in Scandinavia, he has appeared as a soloist as well as chamber musician all over the world. Solo performances include concertos with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio, Helsingborg, Norrköping, Malmö, Umeå and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras as well as Royal Northern Chamber Orchestra, Musica Vitae, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, DalaSinfoniettan; Värmlands Sinfonietta and St. Petersburg Festival Orchestra.

He has been invited to major festivals such as La Folle Journée in Nantes, Music@Menlo in San Fransisco, Yuri Temirkanovs Winter Festival in St. Petersburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Music Festival and has performed in venues including Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Seoul Arts Center.

In 2002, he was a founder of the piano trio Trio Poseidon together with Sara Trobäck Hesselink and Per Lundberg. Today, they are one of the most sought after chamber music ensemble in their native Sweden.

As a chamber musician, Claes has performed with artists including Leonidas Kavakos, Nicolaj Znaider, Enrico Pace, Christian Zacharias, Barbara Hendricks, Lynn Harrel among others.

Claes is currently represented by Chandos Records. His recordings of the Weinberg Cello Phantasy and Concerto with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Thord Svedlund as well as Brahms Double Concerto and Beethoven Triple Concerto together with Neeme Järvi has been highly recommended by the major music magazines around the world.

He recently got a “Les Diapason d’or” for his recording of the Weinberg Concerto.

Since 1999, Claes is combining his solo career with a position as a Principal Cello of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. 2007-2009 he was a guest Solo Cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Claes is playing on a cello made by D. Tecchler 1707 which is a loan from the Järnåker Foundation in Stockholm.

Booklet for Weinberg: Symphony No. 20 & Cello Concerto