The tenth volume in Olympia’s series devoted principally to Vainberg’s symphonies includes No. 4, a work highly regarded by Shostakovich and with good reason. It is well organized, lively, excellently orchestrated, and in a manner much influenced by Shostakovich himself. When the music is so entertainingly fashioned as in the opening movement, or as touchingly as in the “Serenata”, there is much to enjoy; it is chiefly when a movement seems not to reach as far as it promises emotionally, or, as in the finale, when the high spirits become a trifle strident without the underlying despair of some of Shostakovich, that the content seems hardly to justify the manner. Nevertheless, this is an admirably written symphony in the Shostakovich vein, one which perhaps did not leave quite enough for his successors to explore.
Shostakovich also declared how impressed he was with the Violin Concerto “as splendidly interpreted by the violinist-Communist L. B. Kogan” – a tart reference to Kogan’s political stance. This must certainly be accepted as an authoritative performance, and Kogan deals magnificently with what must be an exhausting work to play: the violin is seldom silent, and the effect is distinctly strenuous when there is so little give-and-take between soloist and orchestra. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes carries suggestions of the Enescu of the Romanian Rhapsodies. It receives a splendidly vigorous performance under Svetlanov; Kondrashin is the no less invigorating conductor of the symphony and the concerto, and the recording responds well to the cut and thrust of Vainberg’s scoring.JW