Fridrich Bruk Symphonies 13 and 14 Explored

Born in 1937 in Kharkov (now Kharkiv) Ukraine, and now living in Tampere Finland, Fridrich Bruk was a mere 61 years old when he began writing symphonies. He’s since written a symphony pretty much every year, starting in 1998 – finishing his 23rd in 2021. Not bad… This recording covers Fridrich Bruk’s Symphonies 13 and 14.

His 13th symphony titled The Artist Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) was completed in 2014 when Bruk was about 77 years old. In three movements lasting around 34m, it calls for an orchestra of medium-size – pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, three horns, percussion, and strings.

I can’t say I formed an exact idea of Kazimir Malevich’s personality, it seems clear he did have strong uncompromising views, a formidable intellect, and (probably) didn’t suffer fools gladly! Bruk’s score itself does not ingratiate itself to the hearer. Yet it holds your attention. If you like music that takes you on a long and winding journey, this could be for you. The journey itself is a bit discursive, but the work only lasts 42m. So, it’s hardly a feat of endurance to play the entire thing. While there are no stand-out tunes, Bruk’s score is surprisingly listenable. While a tough, demanding work, its knotty spiky mien is not unpleasant.

His Symphony 14 depicts ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch. Bruk himself saw the painting in 2015 and said of it “For me, this painting is above all a portrayal of the individual’s inner turmoil, and less a description of the physical aspect of suffering. How then does this cris de Coeur manifest itself?”

The 14th symphony calls for larger forces than its predecessor – woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba, plus a large percussion section, celesta, and strings.

Does Bruk’s 14th symphony convey Munch’s Scream in sound? That’s hard to say… For me, when I look at the painting, I don’t feel or sense sound. The Scream is something internal. It’s more an inner cry of pain than an outward expression of agony or discomfort. A silent Scream.

Purely as music, Bruk’s 14th symphony is perhaps less listenable than his 13th. A 30-minute orchestral work based on Munch’s Scream is duty-bound to be uncomfortable and disquieting. It’s not intended to be a relaxing enjoyable experience. If it is, then the composer has surely failed in his task…

The recordings were made in June 2014 (symphony 13) and June 2015 (symphony 14) in Congress-hall, Vilnius, Lithuania – with producer/engineer Laura Jurgelionyte. I feel the sound is better in the 13th symphony, but perhaps this is down to the scoring of each work.

In the 13th symphony, the sound seems clearer and more integrated. Often the textures are fairly dense, but clarity is good and you can usually hear what’s going on. The 14th symphony is a louder more volatile work – indeed, it’s a tad more impressive-sounding at times. The Lithuanian orchestra under Imants Resnis plays well, but perhaps you need Berlin Philharmonic levels of refinement for a piece like this! However, music like this shouldn’t sound diplomatic and civil.

The recordings of Fridrich Bruk’s Symphonies 13 and 14 themselves are clear and well-balanced. It sounds like a fairly simple microphone technique was used, and there’s no obvious spotlighting of instruments. Listening, I half wondered if the recordings might be analogue rather than digital. Unlikely, but not impossible…

There’s a slight suggestion of analogue tape compression during climaxes, and also a mild barely-audible hint of tape hiss from time to time. But I could be completely wrong about the recording being analogue. The sound is perfectly-fine for the most part, with nothing to worry about.

Toccata Classics is definitely a very interesting label – full of unusual high-quality music by mostly-unfamiliar composers. The music they cover might not be well-known, but – on virtually all the releases I’ve sampled – it’s always been worth listening to.

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