MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG (1919-1996): Symphony No. 19, Op. 142 "Bright May", The Banners of Peace, Op. 143.

Description: Once available as a Melodiya licensed-issue on Olympia in 1996), this late (1985) single-movement symphony is the third in a trilogy entitled "On the Threshold of War"; its May is the May when the Great Patriotic War ended in 1945. In three sections, its outer parts are quiet and gentle with a bit of pastoralism in the opening one, giving a sense of hard-earned peace through almost forgotten sufferings but the sufferings surface in the middle part which begins with a threnody that builds to a brief, violent climax before working its way back down in temperature to the closing section. Banners is one of Weinberg's very rare official pieces, commemorating the 27th Communist Party Congress of 1986 and, though faster and louder in parts, carries much the same overall feeling as the symphony. St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra; Vladimir Lande.