Title: Mirzoyan, Shostakovich & Weinberg: Censored Anthems Artist: Parlando Label: Delos Records Product Type: COMPACT DISCS UPC: 013491361024 Genre: Classical Artists Release Date: 2025-02-28 Number of Discs: 1
A Musical America New Artist and BBC Rising Star, Ian Niederhoffer is a fast-rising, young conductor. Here, together with his orchestra Parlando, he explores music as a tool of cultural resilience in the face of censorship, particularly within the Soviet Union. This eclectic program includes Shostakovich's Adagio from Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk, a work infamously censored after Stalin's disapproval, the Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a composer whose career was shaped by persecution during Stalin's anti-cosmopolitan campaign, and Edvard Mirzoyan's Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani, which is a powerful testament to Armenian cultural survival despite Soviet Russification. Inspired by Parlando's mission that "every concert tells a story", the album ends with three narrated tracks detailing Soviet censorship.
Tracks: 1.1 Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk~Adagio 1.2 Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 42~Allegretto cantabile 1.3 Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 42~Lento - Adagio 1.4 Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 42~Allegro moderato poco rubato 1.5 Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani~Andante patetico - Allegro moderato 1.6 Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani~Allegro ma non troppo 1.7 Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani~Adagio - Andante doloroso 1.8 Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani~Allegro vivo 1.9 What does censorship sound like?, an exploration~Ian Niederhoffer on Shostakovich's Adagio 1.10 What does censorship sound like?, an exploration~Ian Niederhoffer on Weinberg's Concertino 1.11 What does censorship sound like?, an exploration~Ian Niederhoffer on Mirzoyan's Symphony
