Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

[The new erato]

a 3rd was recently released with the 17th symphony was recently.

Also, another volume of the Quatoar Danel cycle of the String Quartets is going to be released soon. 

I know what my next purchase is going to be....)

(Also looking forward to getting the opera The Passenger)

There's 3 new volumes in the October prerelease lists on mdt.

[Mirror Image]

I've been reading off and on about Weinberg for a few years, but tonight I finally took the plunge on some recordings of his music. I bought these:







I can't wait to dig into this composer's music, especially after reading his connections and friendship with Shostakovich.

[PaulR]

I just watched The Passenger.  I am not sure what to say, it was an extremely good production and performance.  I am almost at a loss for words, mainly due to the subject matter.  It's not an opera I can watch often, just due to the story, but I think it was well conceived, and well executed. 

One thing I loved about the opera was how Weinberg used the Bach Chaconne from the 2nd violin partita at the end, how it went from the solo violin to the violin section, then went into the final chorus

[jlaurson]

Ionarts-at-Large: Weinberg Lured Me to the Castle
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/12/ionarts-at-large-weinberg-lured-me-to.html

[jlaurson]

Michelle Breedt on "Lisa" from Mieczysław Weinberg's "The Passenger"
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2011/12/michelle-breedt-on-lisa-from-mieczysaw.html

[cilgwyn]

I've been reading off and on about Weinberg for a few years, but tonight I finally took the plunge on some recordings of his music. I bought these:







I can't wait to dig into this composer's music, especially after reading his connections and friendship with Shostakovich.

Hopefully MI,you will enlighten us on how these recordings compare. I remember you're recent comments about the naxos Glazunov symphonies. I ignored you're advice & bought two of the cds. Dutiful,serviceable would be polite!!!! No fire!)

[PaulR]

Hopefully MI,you will enlighten us on how these recordings compare. I remember you're recent comments about the naxos Glazunov symphonies. I ignored you're advice & bought two of the cds. Dutiful,serviceable would be polite!!!! No fire!)

i'm not MI, but the Concerto's disc was one of my first exposure to the composer, and is still a favorite to this day.  Very fine music, nicely recorded too.  The Symphonies 1&7 received a good performance, I thought.

[cilgwyn]

Thank you for you're reply. I'm going to have to put that cd on my list.

[Brian]

Thank you for you're reply. I'm going to have to put that cd on my list.

I'll agree with Paul, the concertos are a superb introduction to Weinberg's orchestral art. I only wish the amazing cello concerto were more widely available - see comments earlier in this thread (that post is how I learned of the piece); the best (only available?) recording is Rostropovich on Brilliant Classics' "Historic Russian Archives".

[jlaurson]

Dip Your Ears, No. 112
(MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG, REQUIEM)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/01/dip-your-ears-no-112.html

[PaulR]

In Late March, the Grand Piano Label (Assume they are new...never heard them before) are releasing a disc with 3 of Piano Sonatas.  Being someone who enjoys Weinberg's Viola, Violin, and Bass Sonatas....I'm very much interested in the new disc.

Allison Brewster Franzetti is the pianist.

[The new erato]

In Late March, the Grand Piano Label (Assume they are new...never heard them before) are releasing a disc with 3 of Piano Sonatas.  Being someone who enjoys Weinberg's Viola, Violin, and Bass Sonatas....I'm very much interested in the new disc.

Allison Brewster Franzetti is the pianist.

It's a Klaus Heymann project (Naxos) - obviously they want to sell some discs at full price . The label is also starting a Raff and Saint-Saens complete piano music series.

[jlaurson]

Dip Your Ears, No. 113
(MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG, Symphony No.17)
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/02/dip-your-ears-no-113.html

[vandermolen]

Just listened to the new Naxos version of Weinberg's 6th Symphony (for orchestra with boys' choir). It is a hauntinly poignant work with an incredibly touching last movement.  It is from 1963 and is rather in the spirit of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony (I actually prefer the Weinberg work). Shostakovich apparently thought very highly of the work too and was a great friend of Weinberg's.  Maybe the performance has less intensity than the classic Kondrashin but it is still a fine and inexpensive introduction to the work.  Of the symphonies I know it ranks with No 5 as the greatest (1 and 3 are my other favourites). As the blurb says 'Scored for very large orchestra and children's choir, Symphony No. 6 is a work of huge expression, anguished and dynamic, encompassing lament, circus gallops, burlesque, and a cataclysmic and heart-rending slow movement
[asin]B007C7FE50[/asin]

[Drasko]

St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra? Is that the same band Alexander Titov conducts on those Northern Flowers releases of wartime music? A third rate orchestra on a good day (I once heard them live on a bad one, [shudders]) and they seem to be recording left and right. Are they so much cheaper than St Petersburg Philharmonic, or Moscow Philharmonic who these days record very little or almost nothing.

[jlaurson]

St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra? Is that the same band Alexander Titov conducts on those Northern Flowers releases of wartime music? A third rate orchestra on a good day (I once heard them live on a bad one, [shudders]) and they seem to be recording left and right. Are they so much cheaper than St Petersburg Philharmonic, or Moscow Philharmonic who these days record very little or almost nothing.

Yes, the same one. And yes, they're cheap... but apparently have come quite some way, because they do a very creditable job under (formerly?) Baltimore-based oboist Vladimir Lande, who has been working on his second leg as a conductor for at least six years.

I prefer the Fedoseyev recording on NEOS (http://ionarts.blogspot.com/search/label/Mieczys%C5%82aw%20Weinberg), but your understandable trepidations don't seem to materialize on this particular disc. Fortunately.

[The new erato]

I like the Naxos 6th. And there a new one on the way:

[The new erato]

For February release on Naxos:

Mieczyslaw Weinberg Symphonies n°8, op.83 "Polish Flowers" (no picture as of yet).

[Brian]

For February release on Naxos:

Mieczyslaw Weinberg Symphonies n°8, op.83 "Polish Flowers" (no picture as of yet).

Where do you get a peek at releases that early on? I believe the 8th is being recorded by Antoni Wit with the Warsaw Philharmonic, which would fit with the "Polish" subtitle of the piece.

[Mirror Image]

Where do you get a peek at releases that early on? I believe the 8th is being recorded by Antoni Wit with the Warsaw Philharmonic, which would fit with the "Polish" subtitle of the piece.

Perhaps he knows someone working on the inside?