Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Kremerata Baltica conducted by Gidon Kremer.
I - Concerto grosso. Grave: 0:00
II - Pastorale. Lento - (attacca): 9:23
III - Canzona. Andantino - (attacca): 18:03
IV - Burlesque. Allegro molto - (attacca): 26:31
V - Inversion. L’istesso tempo: 29:47
Weinberg's Symphony No.10 was composed between 28 July to 11 September 1968, exactly a month after completion of the full score of the opera "The Passenger". Like the previous symphony, it was dedicated to Rudolf Barshai and his Moscow Chamber Orchestra, whose ensemble of seventeen strings gave the premiere in the Lesser Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire on the occasion of Weinberg’s 49th birthday on 8 December 1968.
Barshai and his crack musicians encouraged an array of Soviet composers to write for them and to spare no technical difficulty or sonoristic innovation in the process. Shostakovich’s response would come a year after Weinberg’s, with his darkly magnificent Fourteenth Symphony. The architecture of Weinberg’s Tenth has some similarities with that of his Symphony No.7, also for string orchestra. The work is divided in five movements, each one with a title and the language used is, by some distance, Weinberg’s most innovative to this date.
The first movement begins with a stern chorale, followed by a series of parallel chords that form the ambiguous main theme of the work. A second motif of a lighter character is developed in a manner similar to baroque music. With these two elements a movement is built in the style of the old concerti grossi, in which a soloist ensemble of instruments alternated with the orchestra. We can appreciate the clear influence from the contemporary Polish school of Lutosławski, Penderecki and others. Before the conclusion, the lead cello plays an improvisatory mini-cadenza, which intensely leads to the coda, based on the chorale main theme. Shostakovich would recall it in the slow movement of his Fifteenth Symphony three to four years later.
The second movement, written in ternary form, may be titled Pastorale, but the mood is anything but relaxed or comfortable. It begins with a cold reflective theme on the strings. As it develops, the theme slowly gains warmth. The central section consists of more mini-cadenzas violin and cello. These are as extreme as their counterparts in Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata, Op.134, whose composition overlaps with Weinberg’s Symphony. Finally the orchestra recapitulates the opening part, which without pause, joins the next movement.
The third movement, Canzona, begins with pizzicatos accompanying a broad theme of popular roots, like some post-traumatic dance: asthmatic, ghostly and emaciated. The music is developed quite soberly. This eventually gives way to further cadenzas, for double bass, cello and viola, before concluding with a mighty chorale reminiscent of the framing parts of the first movement. Without pause it leads us to the next movement.
The fourth movement, Burlesque, would be the part corresponding to the scherzo in a conventional symphony. A clumsy fast waltz is presented, which tries in vain to be gentle, finally resulting in glorious chaos. The treatment given to the rope is really original. Developed using special twists, glissandos and distortions. This movement, probably the most immediately appealing in the Symphony, makes full use of the extraordinary virtuosity commanded by Barshai and his ensemble. A transition leads to the final movement.
The last movement, Inversion, consists of an expressive allegro. The frenetic violin cadenza seemingly infects the other solo instruments, which all echo their cadenzas from the "Canzona", resulting in a kind of mildly random jam session, quite characteristic of Eastern European music of the time, though certainly exceptional for Weinberg. Material from the Concerto Grosso is easily recognizable. The music rises to unexpected heights. Repeated notes initiate a transcendent coda derived from the theme of the first movement, like the culmination of a sonorous cathedral.
A work difficult to capture at first audition, but characterized by its transcendent character, despite not having any associated program. The symphony takes us from its simple beginning to the complicated counterpoint of its last movement. A music that acquires in some moments a spatial character, as if it wanted to get out of the earthly elements. One of the great symphonies of the 20th century, but difficult to appreciate.
Picture: "Golden Boats" (1974) by the Russian painter Pyotr Ossovsky.
Sources: tinyurl.com/28xrb6ay and tinyurl.com/24ras4f7
Unfortunately, the score is not freely available.
Kremerata Baltica conducted by Gidon Kremer.
I - Concerto grosso. Grave: 0:00
II - Pastorale. Lento - (attacca): 9:23
III - Canzona. Andantino - (attacca): 18:03
IV - Burlesque. Allegro molto - (attacca): 26:31
V - Inversion. L’istesso tempo: 29:47
Weinberg's Symphony No.10 was composed between 28 July to 11 September 1968, exactly a month after completion of the full score of the opera "The Passenger". Like the previous symphony, it was dedicated to Rudolf Barshai and his Moscow Chamber Orchestra, whose ensemble of seventeen strings gave the premiere in the Lesser Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire on the occasion of Weinberg’s 49th birthday on 8 December 1968.
Barshai and his crack musicians encouraged an array of Soviet composers to write for them and to spare no technical difficulty or sonoristic innovation in the process. Shostakovich’s response would come a year after Weinberg’s, with his darkly magnificent Fourteenth Symphony. The architecture of Weinberg’s Tenth has some similarities with that of his Symphony No.7, also for string orchestra. The work is divided in five movements, each one with a title and the language used is, by some distance, Weinberg’s most innovative to this date.
The first movement begins with a stern chorale, followed by a series of parallel chords that form the ambiguous main theme of the work. A second motif of a lighter character is developed in a manner similar to baroque music. With these two elements a movement is built in the style of the old concerti grossi, in which a soloist ensemble of instruments alternated with the orchestra. We can appreciate the clear influence from the contemporary Polish school of Lutosławski, Penderecki and others. Before the conclusion, the lead cello plays an improvisatory mini-cadenza, which intensely leads to the coda, based on the chorale main theme. Shostakovich would recall it in the slow movement of his Fifteenth Symphony three to four years later.
The second movement, written in ternary form, may be titled Pastorale, but the mood is anything but relaxed or comfortable. It begins with a cold reflective theme on the strings. As it develops, the theme slowly gains warmth. The central section consists of more mini-cadenzas violin and cello. These are as extreme as their counterparts in Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata, Op.134, whose composition overlaps with Weinberg’s Symphony. Finally the orchestra recapitulates the opening part, which without pause, joins the next movement.
The third movement, Canzona, begins with pizzicatos accompanying a broad theme of popular roots, like some post-traumatic dance: asthmatic, ghostly and emaciated. The music is developed quite soberly. This eventually gives way to further cadenzas, for double bass, cello and viola, before concluding with a mighty chorale reminiscent of the framing parts of the first movement. Without pause it leads us to the next movement.
The fourth movement, Burlesque, would be the part corresponding to the scherzo in a conventional symphony. A clumsy fast waltz is presented, which tries in vain to be gentle, finally resulting in glorious chaos. The treatment given to the rope is really original. Developed using special twists, glissandos and distortions. This movement, probably the most immediately appealing in the Symphony, makes full use of the extraordinary virtuosity commanded by Barshai and his ensemble. A transition leads to the final movement.
The last movement, Inversion, consists of an expressive allegro. The frenetic violin cadenza seemingly infects the other solo instruments, which all echo their cadenzas from the "Canzona", resulting in a kind of mildly random jam session, quite characteristic of Eastern European music of the time, though certainly exceptional for Weinberg. Material from the Concerto Grosso is easily recognizable. The music rises to unexpected heights. Repeated notes initiate a transcendent coda derived from the theme of the first movement, like the culmination of a sonorous cathedral.
A work difficult to capture at first audition, but characterized by its transcendent character, despite not having any associated program. The symphony takes us from its simple beginning to the complicated counterpoint of its last movement. A music that acquires in some moments a spatial character, as if it wanted to get out of the earthly elements. One of the great symphonies of the 20th century, but difficult to appreciate.
Picture: "Golden Boats" (1974) by the Russian painter Pyotr Ossovsky.
Sources: tinyurl.com/28xrb6ay and tinyurl.com/24ras4f7
Unfortunately, the score is not freely available.
