Along with Shostakovich and Prokofiev, Weinberg is today considered one of the three most important Soviet-era composers, though he had been born in Poland. He was a lifelong friend of Shostakovich, and though his music was for the most part unknown in the West, it was frequently performed in Russia by such as Richter, Gilels, Rostropovich, David Oistrakh and the Borodin Quartet. He wrote 22 symphonies, film scores and several operas, but this disc focuses on his chamber music from the years of the Holocaust, when the Jewish composer was exiled in the Soviet Union. The performers are members of the resident ensemble of the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
The timbre and style of Klezmer music is discreetly suggested in the Clarinet Sonata. The cadenzas of the nearly 19-minute work display the exuberance feelings of the Jewish music of celebration. The Jewish Songs, in Yiddish, had to be published under the title Children’s Songs due to the rabid anti-semitism in the Soviet Union. One of the songs alludes to the Babi Yar massacre. Though folk music is not directly quoted, there is a strong Jewish flavor to the songs. The Piano Quintet is the big hit of this CD – a remarkable chamber work that deserves to be resurrected. It too has folkloric elements, including a wild folk dance. The Largo slow movement is by far the longest of the five movements, with a sad and affecting main melody.
– John Sunier
