Dances and Songs of the Ghetto, Op. 12
Two Symphonic Songs, Op. 20
- Song of Mourning
- Song of Joy
Five Little Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 17
Pastorale
Two Poems

Back in the glory days of vinyl, before the advent of the digital age, I used to love spending a few hours in my favorite record shop, not looking through the Mozart or Beethoven sections, but perusing through the "miscellaneous" sections in search of unknown treasures. And I must say that some of the best and most cherished recordings in my collection were stumbled upon this way. Once you have established the prerequisite titles on your shelves, nothing beats following your own instincts for adding icing on the cake. If this new recording of Orchestral Works by Russian composer Alexander Veprik (1899-1958) had been in one of those miscellaneous bins back then (we're talking more than 40 years ago), I would have snagged it up instantly out of curiosity, and it would still be part of my collection today. The odd quality of this composer's music makes a compelling case against the vitiation of neglect.

Alexander Veprik was born in the Ukraine, moved to Warsaw, Leipzig, Petrograd and Moscow. During the first half of the 20th century his talent and music flourished, but in the early 1950s, he became a victim of Stalin's anti-Semitic policies, was arrested and eventually dispatched to the Gulag. Following his release in 1954 he returned to Moscow, but a heart condition curtailed his life and he died in 1958. Like most other Soviet composers of his generation, his music is etched with a Weltschmerz or malaise which lends it a woeful expressive character. The piece in this recording that I think best exemplifies his outlook is the Pastorale, written in 1946 and revised after his return from the prison camp. With a title like Pastorale, one would expect the music to evoke a bucolic setting of green pastures, chirping birds and babbling brooks. In Veprik's case on the other hand, the image the music brings to mind is more like the image on the cover of this CD. Bleak, windswept and desolate. But still, there's a reassuring serenity that resides within the music from start to finish, and which floats to the surface as a beautiful solo violin passage halfway through.

But not all of his music is doom and gloom. His Song of Joy for example, as the title implies, brings to mind some of the more upbeat moments in the music of Shostakovich. And like most composers who had to endure injustice and suffering, a shaft of light seems to emanate from even the darkest corners of the music. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Christoph-Mathias Mueller deliver an impactful account of these neglected works. The MDG label should also be applauded for extricating this music from the jaws of oblivion.