Fridrich Bruk (b. 1937)
Orchestral Music, Volume Four
Symphony No. 15, Reflections (2015)
Symphony No. 16, The River Dnieper (2016)
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra/Imants Resnis
rec. 2015/2016, Congress Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania
Toccata Classics TOCC0657 [66]
The composer Fridrich Bruk warrants a few words of introduction. He was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. His mother, Ada Bragilevsky-Bruk, was a well-known concert pianist who sadly died in her twenties, necessitating young Fridrich to be brought up by his grandmother. From the age of eight he attended the Kharkov Special Music School for Gifted Children. From there he progressed to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied composition with Viktor Voloshinov and Boris Arapov. In 1959 he married Nadezhda Mislavsky, a music teacher and choral conductor. In 1974, the Bruks moved to Finland, where they took Finnish citizenship in 1979. To date, Fridrich Bruk has a total of 21 symphonies to his name. Some have been issued on previous volumes by Toccata Classics, this is Volume Four. Volume Two was reviewed back in 2020 in these pages. It featured Symphonies 19-21. There’s also an interesting review of the Third Symphony done some years ago on an obscure Estonian label.
Symphony No. 15 bears the title Reflections. The work is cast in three movements titled Reflection I, Reflection II and Reflection III. Bruk dedicated it to the Finnish historian Martti Turtola, whose book ‘Reflections: The decades of Central Uusimaa’ (2000) and more recent publication ‘I love Sibelius – the Other Musical Confessions’ provide the inspiration for the Sibelian landscapes that underpin and nurture the score. Bruk contemplates the epic landscapes of Finland and the impact of man’s destruction on the environment.
Reflection I is one of turmoil and eruptive vehemence, violent ebullitions and forceful outbursts. Interspersed are sections of relative calm. There’s a particularly striking moment about seven minutes in when the marimba and cor anglais introduce a desolate theme. Reflection II is more soothing to the senses, yet there’s an underlying ominous and melancholic mood which sounds quite troubling at times. The music grows quite stormy towards the end, becoming quite atonal. The movement ends with a placating bucolic idyll. Reflection III opens with a toccata, but what impresses is the rich variety of instrumentation brought into play. A threatening march makes an appearance three minutes in and the music works up quite a dissonant and stormy mood. A jazzy, buoyant coda calls time on an impressive and kaleidoscopically colourful score.
A year later, Bruk composed his Symphony No. 16, subtitled The River Dnieper in four movements:
1. The Interrupted Melody
2. The Story of Chernobyl
3. The River Dnieper
4. Storm and Enlightenment
The background to the work is the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and the evacuation of the entire population of the nearby city of Pripyat, whose river is a tributary of the Dnieper.
The opening movement is one of mystery, suspense and tension, menacing in its stark dissonances. Percussion instruments are harnessed to great effect. In a way it sets the scene for what is to follow. The booklet describes the second movement as “an eerie toccata”. The Chernobyl landscape is vividly depicted in the harsh, abrasive orchestration. The River Dnieper movement is more lightly scored with fleeting harmonies. Six minutes in there are some diaphanous textures which add an attractive luminosity to the music. The finale melds together combative and bellicose elements. A solo cello intones a plaintive air. Significantly, Bruk ends the movement in A major and the church bells sound, thus fulfilling the title of the movement Storm and Enlightenment.
These two Symphonies, my first encounter with the composer, do not make for an easy comfortable listen. They’re emotionally charged and challenging, offering much food for thought. I found Bruk to be a versatile, gifted and colourful orchestrator. The Symphonies are blessed with a superb recording. The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra perform with real commitment and fire. Imants Resnis is inspirational in every respect. The accompanying annotations are detailed and informative.
Stephen Greenbank
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