By EW90580
16-Jul-2012

Weinberg chamber music for woodwinds  

Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996), a Soviet-Russian composer of Polish-Jewish origin, was also known as Moisey Vainberg, Moishe Vainberg, or Moisey Samuilovich Vaynberg. From 1939 he lived in the Soviet Union and Russia and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. His large output, which until recently has been unjustly neglected, includes 25 symphonies, over 40 film and animation scores, 7 operas, 17 string quartets, and many instrumental and recital works. Influences upon Weinberg's compositional style include Shostakovich Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Bartok, and Mahler. His trumpet concerto, for example, quotes Mendelssohn's well-known Wedding March. Ethnic influences include Moldavian, Polish, Uzbek, and Armenian elements, as well as Jewish music.

Lovers of rare 20th-century chamber music should find something to enjoy on this new CD from CPO, which includes two early works from the 1940s, the Clarinet Sonata, Op. 28, and 12 Miniatures for Flute and Piano, Op. 29, plus two works from the 1980s, the solo Bassoon Sonata, Op. 133 (1981), and the Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp, Op. 127 (1980). To my ear, the Trio sounds atonal, but since I'm not a musician I can neither affirm nor refute this. The recorded sound is first-class.

- Ted Wilks
more....