MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG (1919-1996): Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 - Sonata No. 1, Op. 5, Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 8, Sonata, Op. 49bis, Lullaby, Op. 1, 2 Mazurkas, "Op. 10".

Description: Most of Weinberg's piano works date from the first half of his career and both the sonatas here, from 1940 when he was still a student in Minsk, and from 1942 when he was evacuated in Tashkent, have a mixture of Shostakovich and Prokofiev as stylistic influences. The Op. 49bis is a later reworking of a 1949 Sonatina, designed to be in line with the newly re-inforced mandates of "Socialist Realism". New music was added and an uncomfortable stylistic mixture resulted, presumbaly why Weinberg did not give it a new opus number. The remaining three pieces are juvenilia from his 14th and 16th years. Allison Brewster Franzetti (piano).