Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 145
Chamber Symphony No. 3, Op. 151

The East-West Chamber Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival and is made up of concertmasters from leading orchestras and competition laureates. On this, their debut recording, they celebrate the centenary of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's birth. Weinberg's Chamber Symphonies reflect his creativity and the dramatic times in which he lived -- the formal lucidity and directness of the First and the elegiac Third -- both derived from string quartets composed in the shadow of the Second World War. The East-West Chamber Orchestra is comprised of outstanding soloists, including laureates of prestigious international competitions, and concertmasters and leaders of renowned orchestras, performing on exceptional instruments including Stradivarius, Guarneris and Guadagninis. {Naxos}

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996). If you haven't yet had the chance or the inclination to listen to this composer's music, or don't really feel like diving into some of his full-scale symphonies, this new CD may just be the perfect entry point. The Chamber Symphony No. 3, Op. 151 in particular is as good an example as any of his style and outlook. He and Dmitri Shostakovich were friends at one point and both suffered loss and witnessed atrocities at the hands of the Nazis as well as the intolerant oppression of the Soviet regime. Weinberg's outlook is staunchly realist and therefore his music is bleak, desolate and uncompromisingly penetrating. In my opinion the only variant that differentiates the two composers is that Shostakovich is more motivic and Weinberg is more contrapuntal, weaving several threads into one.

The East-West Chamber Orchestra and their conductor Rostislav Krimer could not have picked better music for their debut recording. Their sound reminds me of the early recordings by the English String Orchestra on Nimbus, and also of I Musici de Montréal recordings on Chandos. A sound that is right at home within the Weinberg ethos.