MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG (1919-1996): Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 - Sonatina, Op. 49, Sonata No. 4 in B Minor, Op. 56, Partita, Op. 54.

Description: These pieces date from 1951-55. The 23-minute Partita is most unusual: a 10-movement work, it almost exactly divides itself between quiet and lyrical and aggressive, loud and virtuosic parts with much of the latter devoted to recent models in Shostakovich's music (especially his Piano Sonata No. 2). The 28-minute, four-movement sonata recalls moments from Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, his String Quartet No. 3 and the Piano Sonata No. 2 while Jewish folk music is never far away, especially in the finale. The transparent and simple Sonatina is one of those easily accessible pieces the Soviet bureaucracy demanded but its slow Adagietto lugubre is pure ShostaWeinberg. Allison Brewster Franzetti (piano).