Symphony No.8 "Polish Flowers" - Mieczysław Weinberg

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir conducted by Antoni Wit

I - Podmuch wiosny (Gust of Spring): 0:00
II - Baluckie dzieci (Children of Baluty): 3:54
III - Przed stara chata (In Front of the Old Hut): 7:55
IV - Byl sad (There was an Orchard): 11:54
V - Bez (Elderberry): 17:07
VI - Lekcja (Lesson): 20:23
VII - Warszawskie psy (Warsaw Dogs): 27:56
VIII - Matka (Mother): 33:39
IX - Sprawiedliwosc (Justice): 40:04
X - Wisla plynie (The Vistula flows): 46:19

Weinberg's Symphony No.8 was written in 1964, being his first fully choral symphony. It uses a tenor, soprano, alto as well as a mixed choir. The text belongs to the Polish poet of Jewish origin, Julian Tuwim, one of Weinberg's favorites. It premiered in Moscow on March 6, 1966, performed by the Russian Academic Choir and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Yurlov.

Weinberg remembered his old homeland who he had abandoned in 1939, to which he did not return until 1964 during a visit to the Warsaw Autumn Festival. In the style of one of Shostakovich's symphonies, it is structured in a series of ten movements, in the form of a collection of descriptive songs. "Kwiaty Polskie" (Polish Flowers), written between 1940 and 1946, is an epic poem, presenting a history and criticism of Poland during the time between the two world wars.

The first movement, Gust of Spring, sets the tone for the work as a whole with its reflections on Poland’s troubled past and ominous future. It begins pensively with female voices sounding plaintively over tolling lower strings and percussion, the former continuing at length until strings have an elegiac response that is continued by solo clarinet towards the close.

The second movement, Children of Bałuty, evokes the social inequities of pre-war Poland as seen through the industrial landscape of Bałuty, a suburb of Łódź. It commences with lively and rhythmically agile writing for female voices over a pizzicato accompaniment which soon draws in the strings and woodwind. A pause and then the tenor soloist responds in more immediately expressive terms, before elements of both themes are briefly combined prior to the brusque ending.

The third movement, In Front of the Old Hut, surveys the degradation endured by the mass of Polish people in earlier times. It starts with plangent woodwind entries that are joined by solo tenor in an almost Baroque-like texture, offset by discreet gestures on percussion. Strings and muted brass enter before unaccompanied voices bring about a hushed conclusion.

The fourth movement, There was an Orchard, expands on the issue of poverty with its depiction of the squalor common to peasants, gypsies and Jews alike. It begins with a burgeoning of folk-like gestures on woodwind and strings, the chorus entering stealthily, followed by a dialogue for soprano and mezzo soloists from within the chorus. The emotional mood heightens only gradually, with the instrumental component becoming more forceful prior to its sudden curtailment.

The fifth movement, Elderberry, contrasts the hope offered by springtime with the alienation of urban life. It commences with solo tenor accompanied by wistful woodwind gestures over a chord in lower strings. The chorus responds in almost prayerful terms, leading on to the work’s initial climax in which the whole orchestra is also to be heard for the first time.

The sixth movement, Lesson, is a warning to Polish infants of the inequities that they are to encounter. It opens with dance-like music for chorus and orchestra, percussion much in evidence. This tails off to leave the chorus sounding hesitant over fragmentary gestures on woodwind and brass, before the activity resumes on orchestra alone. The chorus then re-emerges at its height, after which calmer yet sombre exchanges between brass and percussion gradually subside into nothingness.

The seventh movement, Warsaw Dogs, equates the cruelties dealt out to dogs with that of the Polish people in time of war. It launches with stark unison chords on piano and percussion, chorus and woodwind replying with similarly forceful writing which builds in intensity until the initial chords are hammered out by full orchestra. An impassioned tenor solo brings a sudden hush, with only fugitive gestures from voices and instruments remaining prior to a powerful orchestral chord.

The eighth movement, Mother, takes the murder of a woman at her son’s grave as emblematic of the atrocities inflicted by the Nazi invaders. It unfolds with an eloquent solo from tenor over static chords, derived from that which ended the preceding movement on lower (wordless) voices and instruments. At length a solo horn and then upper strings wearily assume the melodic foreground, followed by glacial gestures on celesta and lower woodwind as a rounding off.

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Picture: "Untitled" (1984) by the Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński.

Source: https://bit.ly/37bnrAF

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