LDV81

22 SHOSTAKOVICH • WEINBERG What are the most striking similarities and differences between the two composers? Joseph — Shostakovich is more anchored in reality, more concrete in his trios, where Weinberg is more pictorial. Weinberg’s Trio is constructed like a musical fresco. When you play it, you can imagine you’re seeing a series of tableaux going by, so evocative are the successive ambiences. Weinberg seems to push rhythmic tropism a notch further; he’s even more extreme in that respect. Victor — Yet Weinberg’s Trio and Shostakovich’s Second are quite close in form and style: both of them have four movements, and the two scherzos are virtually toccatas. There are some chords clearly inspired by Shostakovich in the big slow movement Weinberg called ‘Poem’. And the respective finales are very long and extremely violent. Perhaps even more so in Weinberg’s Trio, where total chaos reigns for twelve minutes or so. How do you go about tackling a work as little-known and little-recorded as the Weinberg Trio? Victor — It’s true that there have been very few recordings of the Weinberg. In the case of Shostakovich, there are countless legendary recordings – not forgetting the two versions that exist with the composer at the piano. Although the existing interpretations can be very different from each other (especially in tempo), it’s much easier to find one’s own way on a path that has already been marked out. With Weinberg, it’s more intimidating, because you have to build your own version on what is virtually virgin soil.