Moisey (Mieczyslaw) Weinberg

Don't know much Weinberg/Vaynberg, but I've heard some of the string quartets, and they sound fantastic. There are a lot of interconnections between his quartets and Shostakovich's apparently. Some are already available on various recordings, but the complete set (about 16?) is being recorded and released by, I think, a Manchester-based quartet later this year.

He was hugely prolific but quite reclusive, so not everything is available.

He was hugely prolific but quite reclusive, so not everything is available.

Indeed, sadly.

Cannot stop obsessing over this person, surely I can't be the only one?

A lifelong friend, Shostakovich’s enthusiasm for Weinberg’s abilities grew and he came to describe him as "one of the most outstanding composers of today".

In turn, Weinberg revered Shostakovich, for his generosity and humanity, as well as his gifts as a musician. Although he was already an accomplished composer by the time he arrived in Moscow — his Piano Quintet completed in 1943 is one of the most extraordinary in the repertoire - Weinberg claimed that Shostakovich had introduced him to “a new continent” in music, and despite the 12 year age difference and Shostakovich’s burgeoning reputation, the nature of their relationship was collegial rather than that of master and student. They lived in the same Moscow apartment block; saw each other regularly, and played through one another’s compositions, often in arrangements for two pianos. Weinberg performed the four-hand piano-reductions of Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony (with Shostakovich), and his Twelfth (with Boris Tchaikovsky, another Shostakovich student) when the works were auditioned by the Composers’ Union, and Weinberg and Shostakovich also played the Babi Yar Symphony in this arrangement. There are also many mutual musical “borrowings”: the two-note motif that appears in Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony is re-applied in Weinberg’s Fifth, composed shortly after its premiere, while Weinberg’s Seventh Symphony shares a similar formal design with Shostakovich’s Ninth String Quartet. Shostakovich’s Tenth Quartet, dedicated to Weinberg, draws on the latter’s Seventh Symphony.

...

Weinberg and Shostakovich had a light-hearted but long-running rivalry as to who could compose the most string quartets: Weinberg ultimately composed 17 (two more than his friend).

http://orelfoundation.org/index.php/composers/article/mieczyslaw_weinberg/

Some are already available on various recordings, but the complete set (about 16?) is being recorded and released by, I think, a Manchester-based quartet later this year.

That would be these guys. Vol 3 recently out, it seems. Some further digging shows that they've so far covered nos 4, 16 (Vol 1), 7, 11, 13 (Vol 2), 6, 8, 15 (Vol 3).

Yes, and they're all gorgeous. From the 6th onward, the quartets became progressively more epic and awesome.

Will totally get vols 1 & 2 once emusic subscription rolls over later this month. Spotified a symphony just now, sgood yes! Thanks for stanning.

It's a pleasure. ;-)

Symphonies:

Check the 18th - the third movement in particular ("Dearest little berry...") is just devastating and has some of the most gorgeous choral writing I've ever heard.

The 6th and 14th are also worth listening to as an intro.

and how could I forget symph. 7? ( sigh ) so eerie and dramatic, and I love the interplay of the harpsichord w/ the piercing strings

These string quartets sound promising! (Judging by The Quatuor Danel recordings that were being rolled out last time this thread was revived.) Looks like a bunch of other stuff has been recorded since then too.

Does ILM have anything more to say about him a decade later?

An inordinate amount of Weinberg recordings were released this year, and I've listened to most of them as part of my mad, completist quest to hear everything 2019 has to offer. I'm still not convinced that he was a first-rate composer or anywhere near as inventive and moving as Shostakovich, but the String Quartets do stand out, and the Quatuor Danel, who studied under the Borodin Quartet and Fyodor Druzhinin, are as reliable as ever. Fwiw I think Weinberg's chamber works suffer from fewer structural imbalances (his Symphonies are terribly inconsistent in this regard) than his other compositions and benefit from a greater emphasis on strenuousness and austerity. The Silesian Quartet's recent take on the 11th, 12th and 13th Quartets as part of their ongoing cycle is very much worth hearing (look up 'Wainberg', i.e. the Polish spelling of his last name).

*Wajnberg, sorry.

Thanks! Found the Silesian Qt cycle. #11 is certainly attractive here, for starters. Shall return to the remainder shortly...

https://accentus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/30518-VS-400x350.jpg

https://accentus.com/discs/518/

great recording is this. I didn't follow the Shostakovich revive yesterday but this fellow was a close friend and ally of his.