The Symphony No. 21, Opus 152, subtitled ''

Kaddish Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...

'', was composed by

Mieczysław Weinberg Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 – 26 February 1996) was a Polish-born Soviet composer and pianist. Names Much confusion has been caused by different renditions of the composer's names. In official Polish documents made before he mov ...

in 1991. It was the last full-orchestral symphony that Weinberg completed (he died in 1996, leaving his 22nd symphony unorchestrated). The work is dedicated to the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

victims. The symphony is a single-movement work in six sections: *''Largo'': this section quotes from Chopin's Ballade No. 1. *''Allegro molto'' *''Largo'' *''Presto'' *''Andantino'' *''Lento'': this section introduces a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

singing a wordless

requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

. The symphony is scored for the following forces: 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 saxophones, 3 bassoons, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists, harp, piano (doubling celesta), harmonium, soprano singer and strings. The symphony was first recorded in 2014, by the Siberian Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Dmitry Vasilyev) on the

Toccata Classics Toccata Classics is an independent British classic music label founded in 2005. The founder of Toccata Classics is Martin Anderson, a music journalist. The label was founded primarily to promote unrecorded works by lesser-known composers, inc ...

label. The Symphony has also been recorded in 2019 by the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

and

Kremerata Baltica Kremerata Baltica is a chamber music, chamber orchestra consisting of musicians from Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). It was founded by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer in 1997. Gidon Kremer is an artistic director of Kremerata Baltic ...

conducted by

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (born Mirga Gražinytė, 2 April 1986 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian conductor. She is currently musical director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Biography Early years and education Gražinytė-Tyla was ...

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

References

{{reflist Classical music about the Holocaust 1991 compositions Compositions by Mieczysław Weinberg Weinberg 21