MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG (1919-1996): Symphony No. 13, Op. 115, Serenade, Op. 47/4 (World Premiere Recordings).

Description: Like two other symphonies dedicated to the memory of his mother, a victim along with his father and sister of the nazis in Poland in 1941, the 35-minute Thirteenth of 1976 is cast in a single movement that unfolds in a symmetrical arc. A large orchestra is used sparingly in chamber-like textures with motivic ideas that evolve over the course of the work. The result is music of gripping and unsettling power, both emotionally intense and architecturally complex. The light-hearted Serenade (1952) offers a study in contrasts: by turn capricious, rumbustious and wistful - thoroughly enjoyable even if it was the sort of music Soviet composers were compelled to write in the Zhdanov era. Siberian State Symphony Orchestra; Vladimir Lande.