“This is the fourth Weinberg recording that Vladimir Lande has made for Naxos and it’s just as good as the other three…the tempos are well judged and Weinberg’s sometimes disjunct architecture is made to work as a whole. The engineering team has captured both body and detail in the orchestral sound… there’s no real alternative to this new recording, but it’s so good that the absence of competition is of no concern. This is, then, another major addition to the Weinberg discography, and it can be recommended without hesitation.” --International Record Review, July 2014
“The present performance boasts a compelling contribution from Andrew Balio, who revels in the witticism of the Finale while also encapsulating the darker undertones of the wistful central movement. The St Petersburg State Symphony offers strong support.” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2014 ****
"Whether they were a compliant composer working within the Communist regime, or one who was openly opposed to it has often coloured Western views of their music. Mieczyslaw Weinberg is presently being marketed as a dissident, his works offered as having come out of the shadow of Shostakovich…we should simply find satisfaction in discovering a composer of considerable ability. The Trumpet concerto…is a likeable score written in 1967, and at a time when he was supplying the regime with audience pleasing music. Free of these doctrinal constraints, his Eighteenth symphony, completed in 1984, reveals his response to the evil of War. A deeply moving performance, the chorus of excellent quality, the whole disc encased in a feeling of dedication to the composer. Andrew Balio from the Baltimore Symphony is the sprightly solo trumpet. --David’s Review Corner, May 2014
