Credits:

Elephant House Quartet

Description:

World premiere recording of a collection of superb orchestral works by Vapryk, a composer who suffered bitterly during the Soviet era. Aleksandr Vapryk (1889-1958) was a Jewish composer from the former Soviet Union. Weinberg has been the focus of renewed attention in recent years, but Verplik is 30 years older than Weinberg. Born near Odessa, he studied piano at the Leipzig Conservatory until 1914, when he returned to Japan and studied composition at the Petersburg Conservatory with Zhitomirsky and at the Moscow Conservatory with Myaskovsky. After the Revolution, he composed works as a member of the "Jewish National Music School" that treated Jewish material with modern techniques, but due to Stalin's anti-Semitic policies, he was arrested like Weinberg and sent to a labor camp. After Stalin's death, he was released, but died in 1958. Until now, we have only had the opportunity to hear Vapryk's small chamber works, but finally a full-scale recording of his orchestral works has appeared. The orchestration is full of colorful effects, as Vapryk taught orchestration at the Moscow Conservatory for 20 years. The "Pastorale" and "Two Poems" from his final years, written after his release, are particularly moving, depicting the hell the composer went through in a divinely crafted orchestration.The BBC National Orchestra of Wales shows off its virtuosity. King International

Tracklisting:

1.Dances and Songs of the Ghetto, Op. 12
2.Two Symphonic Songs, Op. 20~Song of Mourning
3.Two Symphonic Songs, Op. 20~Song of Joy
4.Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17~1. Allegro moderato
5.Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17~2. Adagio
6.Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17~3. Tempo di Marcia
7.Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17~4. Allegro
8.Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17~5. Lento
9.Pastorale
10.Two Poems~I
11.Two Poems~II