While Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich are the two most prominent figures in music of the Soviet era, a growing consensus of opinion would put Polish-born Mieczyslaw Weinberg with them, even at the forefront of all modernist composers. Weinberg (known also as Moisey Vainberg, and sometimes given erroneous transliterations of his name, even though he preferred the Polish spelling) composed 25 symphonies of highly original character and readily apparent technical mastery. These impressive works are gradually being ...
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While Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich are the two most prominent figures in music of the Soviet era, a growing consensus of opinion would put Polish-born Mieczyslaw Weinberg with them, even at the forefront of all modernist composers. Weinberg (known also as Moisey Vainberg, and sometimes given erroneous transliterations of his name, even though he preferred the Polish spelling) composed 25 symphonies of highly original character and readily apparent technical mastery. These impressive works are gradually being received with favor in the West, largely through the efforts of Gabriel Chmura and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Their exciting recordings on Chandos are a great place to start investigating Weinberg's music, especially since the series is projected to cover all the symphonies and other significant orchestral works. The six-movement Symphony No. 16, Op. 131 (1981), which receives its world-premiere recording here, and the more traditionally structured four-movement...
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