Fridrich BRUK: Orchestral Music, Volume Two
Fridrich Bruk – born in Kharkov in 1937 and a Finnish resident since 1974 – made his name as a composer of tangos. But the heart of his music lies in a series of (to date) 21 symphonies, which have a strong narrative element, some reflecting Jewish themes, others inspired by Karelia and Finland. The three most recent together form a kind of meta-symphony premised on the persecution of the Jews in the first half of the twentieth century. Bruk’s kaleidoscopic use of orchestral colour, his angular but expressive melodies and his dramatic musical language reflect this urge to chronicle the outrage visited on his fellow Jews – and which directly impinged on his own life.
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra (Tracks 1-3, 7-8)
Arvydas Kazlauskas, baritone saxophone (Tracks 1-3)
Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra (Tracks 4-6)
Māris Kupčs, conductor
First recordings
Listen To This Recording:
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Symphony No. 19, Tunes from Ghettoes (2018)
- I: Our little town is burning
- II: Ele-bele
- III: O, hammer, hammer, knock!
- I Allegro energico
- II Adagietto
- III Lesto
- I Presentiment I
- II Presentiment II
Symphony No. 20 (2018)
Symphony No. 21, Presentiment: In memory of Anne Frank (1929–1945) (2018)
MusicWeb International :
‘This big symphony [Symphony No.19] is an impressive achievement by any standard. The Liepāja Symphony Orchestra never fail to amaze me in their commitment and execution.
The playing and recording are again first class. The conductor Latvian Māris Kupčs displays an instinctive grasp of Bruk’s style and these readings exude tact and respect, qualities which quasi-programmatic music such as this absolutely demand. Fridrich Bruk is by now 82 years old; such is the quality of these symphonies that one earnestly hopes these fine accounts will help to raise his profile beyond his homeland(s). This is shaping up to be another life-enhancing sequence from Toccata.’
—Richard Hanlon, MusicWeb International