Gidon Kremer - Weinberg: 24 Preludes for violin solo (2019) [Hi-Res]

The Polish Jewish-born Mieczyslaw Weinberg made his way to Moscow during World War II and was lucky enough to have his music championed by Shostakovich during one of the latter's government-approved periods. His music sounds a bit like that of Shostakovich (sample, perhaps, the beginning of the 21st prelude here), but he generally has his own voice. Weinberg wrote these preludes for cello (for Mstislav Rostropovich, who never performed them), and they have occasionally been recorded in that form; the violin transcription here by Latvian star Gidon Kremer squeezes the original work's broad range but also adds a level of virtuosity on the high notes that wasn't there originally. The 24 preludes do not form a set in all the major and minor keys as do those of Bach or Chopin, and they're perhaps more etudes than preludes, each of them exploring a little technique or motif. Combined with Kremer's brilliance, this creates a slightly mysterious effect, as if you are hearing an impassioned speech in an unfamiliar language. They are entirely unlike the Shostakovich preludes for piano, and there is nothing of the neo-classic about them although they are tonally organized. Although the pieces are quite short, they have a personal quality. The Accentus label, going full ECM with its black-and-white-photo-on-gray graphics, does a wonderful job sonically at the Paliesiaus Dvaras, apparently a small hotel, in Lithuania; the violin has an almost tactile quality. A nice find for those who know Weinberg only through his symphonies, or not at all. ~ James Manheim