Weinberg composed the Third Symphony in 1949. That was the roughly the period when prominent Russian composers such as
Shostakovich and Weinberg had fallen out of favor with the Soviet authorities. The authorities demanded upbeat music from their composers, à la the imaginary "ode to a tractor" (according to a sneer in the musical Silk Stockings). Weinberg had apparently met expectations, for the
… score passed censorship. On a run-through, however, the symphony was still heavily criticized, so the work did not reach its final stage until 1959. One of the most beautiful moments is the Wagnerian final chord of the first movement. That mysterious nocturnal atmosphere Weinberg also managed to evoke in the opening movement of the Seventh Symphony, where the sounds of the strings are atypically led in and out by a harpsichord. Weinberg posthumously could not have wished for a better advocate than conductor Mirgan Grazinyte-Tyla. In 2019, she achieved great success with her debut for Deutsche Grammophon, including Weinberg's Kaddish Symphony (No. 21). (HJ)more
