MIECZYLAW WEINBERG (1919-1996): Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 61 (rec. 1962), Symphony No. 6 in A Minor for Boys' Choir and Orchestra, Op. 79 (rec. 1966).

Description: While the Fourth appeared on Chandos (see our Sept. 2004 catalogue at 09G002 for details), this is the only available recording of the Sixth, a six-movement work lasting around 43 minutes (1963). Written around the same time as Shostakovich's No. 13, this is also a lament for the suffering caused by war but Weinberg's voice is softer, less shrill and angry with the poets of the three texts he sets (one shot by the KGB in 1952, one imprisoned but finally released in 1960 and the other a classic example of horrible official Soviet poetry) speaking silent, subversive volumes about the composer's actual intent. Boys' chorus of the Moscow Choral College, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra; Kirill Kondrashin.