Every work by Weinberg that I open up has a fresh and startling quality that not only sets him apart from any other composer of recent times, but exhibits a character that is all its own. When will he be presented in the concert halls of the world with the same frequency as Prokofiev and Shostakovitch with whom he often (erroneously and unfavourably) compared?
1) Prokofiev only wrote 7 symphonies of which only # 1, 5, and 6 are performed regularly. He was a pianist first and a composer second and wrote lots of piano music and 5 Piano concerti. 2) Shostakovich completed his 15th Symphony in 1972 just 3 years before his death in 1975. Once again of his 15 symphonies only 4 or 5 of them are performed regularly and #'s 2 & 3 are never performed as they were meant to be "presents" for Stalin. 3)There are several other Russian composers who either wrote more symphonies than Shosty, or fewer than 7 and Weinberg seems to not fit well in most concert programs??.
Weinberg's symphonies nos. 4 & 5, written during what he called his "starry years" when he was enjoying his greatest success within the USSR, are definitely worth programming. Other symphonies of his require solo or choral voices, or are scored for strings only.
An almost unbearable sadness suffuses the 'Largo'; an intense melancholy informs the inspired "Allegro' in a movement like no other I've ever heard; the 'Adagio' issues plaintive calls for help in a wonderful use of instruments solo and in combination, the icy piano solo offering but desolation; then the final 'Moderato', an incredible five-minute fanfare signifying...? Weinberg's 14th Symphony is a colorful work with a singular purpose; in my case, that purpose was to cause me to think, to ponder...
