WEINBERG : Piano Sonatas Nr. 1, 2, & 3 • 17 Easy Pieces, Op. 34 (Murray McLachlan) (1996-2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

1-4    Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 5    (14:44)
5-8    Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 8    (16:41)
9-11    Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 31    (22:41)
12-28    17 Easy Pieces, Op. 34    (15:47)

Piano –  Murray McLachlan

WEINBERG : Piano Sonatas Nr. 4, 5 & 6 (Murray McLachlan) (1996-2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mieczysław Vainberg (1919-1996)

1-4    Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 56    (26:43)
5-7    Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 58    (27:05)
8-9    Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 73    (12:38)

Piano –  Murray McLachlan

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 1 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Polish-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, also known as Moises Vainberg, has received a flurry of attention in the new century for works that showed the influence of both Shostakovich and Prokofiev but aped neither one, developing a distinctive style rooted in the increasingly important music of the Soviet Union in the middle 20th century. Weinberg fled the Nazi invasion in Poland, only to find mistrust from both the Soviet government and dissidents who considered him insufficiently confrontational. Like Shostakovich he was a pianist. His piano music dates mostly from the first phases of his output (a bout with tuberculosis sidelined his concert career), and four of the five works here were composed while he was still in Poland or in Minsk, where he resumed his studies after fleeing and saw his relatives die in concentration camps. They are not the best samples of Weinberg's mature style, but all are worthwhile. The Two Mazurkas, Op. 10, and Lullaby, Op. 1, were Weinberg's earliest works, written during his teenage years, with all kinds of unexpected youthful complications arising from simple tonal material. The Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 8, is a pure essay in Prokofiev's style; it was premiered by Emil Gilels. A bit more interesting is the slightly earlier Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 5, with tough dissonances kept in check by contrapuntal passages. The mood, although not the specific language, recalls early Shostakovich. The final Piano Sonata, Op. 49bis, will also be of interest to Soviet music buffs. It had its origins in a work written during the repression of Stalin's culture czar Andrei Zhdanov, when composers retreated to a safe simplicity. But Weinberg returned to the work in the 1970s and expanded it, with intriguing results: it has the flavor of a reflection on those difficult days. American pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti has a basic feel for Russian music and a muscular style that projects these explosive youthful works well. This is the first in a projected series of Weinberg works from this performer, and it bodes well for the set. by James Manheim

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 2 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who managed to survive persecution from both the Nazis and the Stalinists, has gained new attention with the continuing expansion of popularity of his mentor and sometime protector, Shostakovich. The structure of the ongoing series of his complete piano works by American pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti remains to be seen, but she does well with this grouping of works from around 1950: this was the period in which both Weinberg and Shostakovich suffered from Stalinist cultural repression and adjusted their styles in a conservative direction accordingly. (Weinberg was actually jailed and, despite Shostakovich's help, not released until after Stalin's death.) The three works here are clearly related to Shostakovich's piano works of his mid-career, but are entirely different in effect. The characteristic mordant quality in Shostakovich is missing, replaced by a sense of the Romantic legacy (explicit in a piece like the Etude, track 9, from the Partita, Op. 54) combined with an uncertain, dark quest into the future. Annotator David Fanning makes much of the contrast between "subdued and intimate" and "dramatic and virtuosic" in that Partita, but in fact all three works on the album are similarly structured. Weinberg begins almost diffidently, with conventional tonal material that seems to slip periodically into a dark, intense reverie. It's a powerful response to the situation Weinberg faced during this period, and Franzetti gives the music its deserved overall intensity. The slow movements of the Piano Sonatina, Op. 49, with its shifting bass ostinato, and the Piano Sonata No. 4 in B minor, Op. 56, with its genuinely tragic mood, are especially noteworthy, and the Partita would make an ideal program companion to Shostakovich's preludes and fugues. Recommended for collections of Russian music in the 20th century. by James Manheim 

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 3 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 4 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

VAINBERG : Children's Notebooks 1-3 • Trio, Op. 24 (Anatoli Sheludyakov) (1996) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

WEINBERG : Clarinet Concerto • Clarinet Sonata • Chamber Symphony No. 4 (Oberaigner, Schöch, Michail Jurowski) 24bits-96hz / FLAC (tracks), lossless

Mieczysław Weinberg was familiar with the clarinet from his youth, given its prominent place in klezmer bands and theatre ensembles, and he wrote three works specifically for the instrument. In the Clarinet Concerto he draws a wide range of textures from the accompanying strings, over which the soloist explores the clarinet’s extremes of register in virtuosic fashion. Despite having been written when Weinberg was still in his mid-twenties, the Clarinet Sonata is a mature work with Romantic and folkloric elements. His last completed work was the Chamber Symphony No. 4, an impassioned piece with a wrenching chorale theme and role for obbligato clarinet. Naxos
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1-3 Clarinet Concerto, Op. 104 (1970) (29:26)
4-6 Clarinet Sonata, Op. 28 (1945) (20:11)
7-10 Chamber Symphony No. 4, Op. 153 For Clarinet, Triangle And String Orchestra (1992) (33:07)

Cello – Friedwart Dittmann
Clarinet – Robert Oberaigner
Conductor – Michail Jurowski
Cover – Gustav Klimt
Ensemble – Dresden Chamber Soloists (pistas: 1-3, 7-10)
Piano – Michael Schöch (pistas: 4-6)
Violin – Federico Kasik (pistas: 7-10)

WEINBERG : 24 Preludes • Solo Cello Sonata No. 1 (Josef Feigelson) (2010) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The importance of Mieczysław Weinberg’s 24 Preludes for solo cello, written for Rostropovich, lies beyond their superficial resemblance to Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier or the piano preludes of Chopin or Weinberg’s colleague Shostakovich. Instead, it resides in Weinberg’s remarkable ability to write for solo cello with almost limitless imagination, using myriad musical styles and varied techniques. These fascinating qualities are also to be found in his more expansively lyrical Sonata, a masterfully written outpouring of deep emotions. Latvian-born cellist Josef Feigelson has enjoyed a solo career spanning over three decades and champions neglected cello repertoire. Naxos
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WEINBERG : Complete Sonatas for Viola Solo • DRUZHININ : Sonata for Viola Solo (Julia Rebekka Adler) 2CD (2010) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 *
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sonata For Clarinet And Piano, Op. 28 (1945)
(Version For Viola And Piano)* (18:49)

Fyodor Druzhinin
Sonata For Viola Solo (1959) (16:58)

Mieczysław Weinberg
Sonata For Viola Solo No. 1, Op. 107 (1971) (25:44)

**
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sonata For Viola Solo No. 2, Op. 123 (1978) (15:50)
Sonata For Viola Solo No. 3, Op. 135 (1982) (32:55)
Sonata For Viola Solo No. 4, Op. 136 (1983) (20:17)

Piano – Jascha Nemtsov*
Viola – Julia Rebekka Adler

VAINBERG : String Quartet Nº. 1, 10 & 17 (Gothenburg Quartet) (1997) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141    (19:38)
String Quartet No. 10, Op. 85    (24:27)
String Quartet No. 17, Op. 146    (16:23)

Ensemble [String Quartet] – Gothenburg Quartet

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 1 (Quatuor Danel) (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Even though the dominant figures of Soviet music were Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev, it has become clear that the work of a third composer, Polish-born Mieczyslaw Weinberg, should be ranked as equally significant. His reputation has rapidly increased in the west due to a growing number of major recordings that confirm his standing, and his impressive compositions are valued by some critics as every bit the equal of any of the better-known modernist masterpieces. In light of the renascence of Weinberg's music, CPO has begun a project with the Quatuor Danel to record the 17 string quartets, and this first volume shows promising signs that the whole series will be required listening. The String Quartet No. 4, Op. 20 (1945), was a product of World War II and it reflects the turmoil of the time, while the String Quartet No. 16, Op. 130 (1981), is a brooding, introspective work of Weinberg's late period, comparable in its fatalistic mood to some of Shostakovich's dark explorations. The Quatuor Danel plays with taut muscularity, and the tension of Weinberg's fiercely dissonant counterpoint is sustained in each quartet through the group's controlled energy and penetrating tone. The close miking may make listening a little disagreeable -- especially when the players' breathing is audible -- but the musical value of these performances is high and listeners should be prepared to concentrate on this album without distractions and to face it without concern for comfort: this is bracing music, indeed, but well worth the effort. by Blair Sanderson  

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

String Quartet No. 4 Op. 20 In E Flat Major    (34:52)
String Quartet No. 16 Op. 130 In A Flat Major    (30:18)

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 2 (Quatuor Danel) (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

String Quartet No. 7 Op. 59 In C    (28:10)
String Quartet No. 11 Op. 89 In F    (21:26)
String Quartet No. 13 Op. 118, In One Movement    14:07

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 3 (Quatuor Danel) (2009) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

String Quartet No. 6 Op. 35 In E Minor    (33:22)
String Quartet No. 8 Op. 66    17:15
String Quartet No. 15 Op. 124    (21:26)

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 4 (Quatuor Danel) (2010) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This release is the fourth in a series devoted to the complete string quartets of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a Polish-born Jew who fled the Nazis in 1939. He landed in Minsk, then in Tashkent, then finally in Moscow, where he found himself in danger once again from the aging Stalin's anti-Jewish purges. His life was probably saved by an appeal from Shostakovich, who had become his mentor. Weinberg is usually classed as a follower of Shostakovich, and his music was until recently little heard in the West; it has now been championed by the Quatuor Danel, a Russian group resident in Britain. Annotator David Fanning (the notes are given in German, English, and French) makes a good case that the influence, in the realm of the string quartet at least, went from Weinberg to Shostakovich rather than the other way around, and Shostakovich's attitude toward Weinberg seems to have been one of genuine admiration. At any rate, as the music of Eastern Europe and Russia is recognized for its engagement with the currents of world history rather than suffering devaluation from self-serving modernism, Weinberg deserves another look. These quartets do inhabit the same stylistic universe as those of Shostakovich, but Weinberg was no clone. The most immediately attractive work is the String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 27, composed in 1945. By that time Shostakovich had already begun to back off from his edgily humorous early idiom, but Weinberg apparently absorbed it during his first years in the Soviet Union; at the center of the work lies a blistering scherzo that could have come out of one of Shostakovich's stage works of the 1920s. The outer movements are melodic and a bit less dissonant than those of Shostakovich. The String Quartet No. 9 in F sharp minor, Op. 80, is from 1963, with structures that resemble the tight sonata forms of Shostakovich's works of the period. The final String Quartet No. 14, Op. 122, was written after Shostakovich's death. It lacks a key designation and has only metronome markings for tempo indications. It's a gloomy work, tightly constructed, with the dark tone of late Shostakovich much in evidence; one might do better with the range of emotions and literary reference in the works of the master himself here, but there's a lot to chew on in this late quartet. With enthusiastic and plainly lovingly rehearsed performances from the Quatuor Danel and fine sound from Cologne's Studio Stolbergerstraßse, this can be recommended to anyone who likes Shostakovich's quartets or is interested in the general Russian scene. by James Manheim  

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

String Quartet No. 5 Op. 27 In B Flat Major    (25:37)
String Quartet No. 9 Op. 80 In F Sharp Minor    (28:31)
String Quartet No. 14 Op. 122    (23:22)

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 5 (Quatuor Danel) (2011) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

1-3 String Quartet No. 1 Op. 2/141 In C Major    (20:56)
4-6 String Quartet No. 3 Op. 14 In D Minor    (20:42)
7-10 String Quartet No. 10 Op. 85 In A Minor    (24:07)
11    Capriccio Op. 11    6:24
12    Aria Op. 9    4:25

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : String Quartets, Vol. 6 (Quatuor Danel) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who fled the Nazis and endured persecution from Stalin (although, as annotator David Fanning points out here, he regarded the Red Army as his savior), has increased sharply in popularity. Weinberg is part of Shostakovich's stylistic universe and, although the relationship was never a formal one, said that he regarded himself as Shostakovich's pupil. Yet he was no clone. Jewish motifs play a role in some of his music, and in the string quartets here, especially the String Quartet No. 12, Op. 103, Bartók is as important a model as Shostakovich. Hear the Presto movement of that symphony (track 7), with its motivic cells closely packed around a central note, interspersed with hammered repetitions of a single tone. It's an extraordinary piece, and the multinational Quatuor Danel brings the requisite taut intensity. The other two works are lighter in tone, with the String Quartet No. 17, Op. 146 (composed in 1986), diverging quite a bit from the hopeless jocularity of many of Shostakovich's late pieces. It matches up quite well to the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3, written in the early months of World War II but seemingly oblivious to the chaos that had erupted all around the composer (by the time he wrote it, he had fled his native Warsaw for Minsk). Weinberg himself seems to have recognized the connection, for he revised the quartet heavily near the end of his life. It begins in an almost neo-classic manner before becoming submerged in contrapuntal complications. Different as they are in mood, all three works are immediately recognizable as the work of the same creative figure, making this a reasonable first pick for those interested in Weinberg's music. Another major plus is the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (West German Radio) engineering for the CPO label, accomplished at the Stolbergstrasse Studio in Cologne, and capturing the physicality of the string quartet without overdoing the non-musical sounds in the least. An excellent conclusion to the Quatuor Danel's Weinberg cycle. by James Manheim

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)

String Quartet No. 2 Op. 3/145    (26:30)
String Quartet No. 12 Op. 103    (31:28)
String Quartet No. 17 Op. 146    (16:30)

Ensemble – Quatuor Danel

WEINBERG : Piano Quintet (Olga Scheps, Kuss Quartett) (2019) 24-48 / FLAC (tracks), lossless

Piano Quintet = Klavierquintett Op. 18 (1944) (45:34)

Ensemble – Kuss Quartett
Piano – Olga Scheps

WEINBERG : Sonatas No. 1 & 4 for Violin, And Violin & Piano (Yuri Kalnits, Michael Csányi-Wills) (2010) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Soviet-Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (also known as Moisey or Moises Weinberg, but he preferred the Polish form) has received increased attention as the stature of his associate and friend Dmitry Shostakovich has grown. Weinberg is not a clone of Shostakovich, and there was a mutual influence between the two. Indeed, the early Violin Sonata No. 1 of Weinberg, composed in 1943 after Weinberg had fled his native Warsaw first to Minsk and then to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, has what you might call a typical Shostakovich structure of feeling before Shostakovich himself came up with such a thing. It's an imperfect early work, with repetitive passages, but the sequence of two melancholy opening movements followed by a grimly resolute finale in folk rhythms cannot help but bring Shostakovich to mind. The other two violin-and-piano works on this British release also reflect the conditions under which Soviet composers worked; the Sonatina (tracks 11-13) consciously reflects the demands for lyrical simplicity imposed by Stalinist cultural commissars, whom the Jewish Weinberg had even more reason than Shostakovich to fear. It marks perhaps a subtler adaptation than Shostakovich's manifestations of bitter bombast, with a free structure suggesting introspection in the second of its two movements. The Sonata No. 1 for solo violin, Op. 82, is something else again, a brutally difficult technical tour de force with all of the violin's resources, including quadruple stops, deployed in the service of a unique, unrelenting quality. It's not exactly a pleasant work, but like everything else on the album it holds your attention. Russo-British violinist Yuri Kalnits handles the challenges of this work with ease and genuinely seems to enjoy Weinberg's music. There are probably other places to go for those just starting with Weinberg's music (Chandos' series containing his orchestral works would be one), but this album is recommended for those doing further exploring. by James Manheim  

Sonata No. 1 For Violin And Piano, Op. 12 (21:59)
Sonata No. 1 For Violin Solo, Op. 82 (24:41)
Sonata No. 4 For Violin And Piano, Op. 39 (13:44)
Sonatina For Violin And Piano, Op. 46 (14:45)

Piano – Michael Csányi-Wills
Violin – Yuri Kalnits

WEINBERG : Violin Sonatas 4 & 5 (Stefan & Andreas Kirpal) (2009) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Sonata for violin & piano No. 4, Op. 39     
Sonata for violin & piano No. 5 in G minor, Op. 53     
Pieces (3), for violin & piano

Stefan Kirpal - Violin
Andreas Kirpal - Piano