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Symphony No.1 in G minor "To the Red Army" - Mieczysław Weinberg

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thord Svedlund

I - Allegro moderato - Larghetto - Tempo I - Larghetto - Tempo I: 0:00

II - Lento: 15:11

III - Vivace - Allegretto grazioso - Tempo I: 24:19

IV - Allegro con fuoco: 31:56

Weinberg's First Symphony was finished in Uzbekistan,1942, and he dedicated it to the Red Army as thanks for his salvation. It was while in Tashkent that Weinberg was persuaded to send the score of the work to Shostakovich, whose approval secured the recommendation that enabled Weinberg to settle in Moscow from mid-1943 until the end of his life. The symphony was not performed until February 11, 1967, twenty-five years after its composition. It was premiered by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kirill Kondrashin.

Tashkent was the composer’s third home. Driven from Warsaw by the Nazi invasion in 1939, Weinberg had escaped on foot to the Belorussian border and found refuge in Minsk (his parents and sister were not so fortunate; they perished in the concentration camp at Trawniki). Then when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, in the early morning of 22 June 1941, he had to flee again, this time by train via Moscow to Tashkent, where large numbers of the Russian artistic intelligentsia joined him in evacuation.

Picture: An iconic photograph of Aleksey Gordeyevich Yeremenko. A junior political officer serving with the 220th regiment of 4th Rifle Division. On July 12, 1942, the commander of his regiment fell during battle. Rallying his troops to the attack, Yeremenko stood and waved them on. Seconds after this photograph was taken, Yeremenko was shot dead. 

(I got the video and the text from Sergio Cánovas. Thanks for everything)