Eric Schissel replies to me:

>Mr. Schwartz describes Vainberg
>as a Shostakovich Doppelganger.  Unlike most people who ignorantly so
>describe him, I can well believe that Mr. Schwartz has heard most Vainberg
>works that are on CD- indeed, perhaps all, and perhaps even quartets 7 & 8
>and other works that while recorded on LP have never been released on CD,
>instead of just the "greatest hits" on which such a judgment is usually
>made.  To which I can only say- as someone who has heard as much Vainberg
>as I can get my hand on (not, so far, the Serenade, the cello concerto or
>fantasy, the first cello solo sonata or preludes, the viola solo sonata #1,
>the sinfoniettas in d minor and g minor or the flute sonata), I cannot
>agree, and find signs of Shostakovich-ness lacking in relatively few works
>beyond the very best known (such as sym. 5, 6 and the trumpet concerto).

I too try to get as much Vainberg as recording companies will let me have.
I think he's a fantastic composer - every bit as good as Shostakovich, in
my opinion.  Doppelgaenger was a bad choice of words.  I didn't mean it
perjoratively at all.  It's just that Vainberg and Shostakovich share a
general style - and Vainberg himself made no bones about it.  In fact, he
was proud that people connected him to DSCH.  In fact, every statement I've
read from Vainberg about Shostakovich gives DSCH his due, with a confidence
and a personal security in the value of one's own work.  Does Vainberg
merely imitate? Of course not.  Certainly Shostakovich himself didn't
consider Vainberg a vapid epigone.  Furthermore, as Eric points out, the
personalities of both composers differ.  All I tried to do was to say that
if one looked for Shostakovich style resemblances, Vainberg came closer
than Lees.

By some coincidence, I listened this morning to the Vainberg Cello Sonata
on Russian Disc, coupled with the Boris Tchaikovsky (okay, I know he's not
a direct descendent; does anyone know his family relationship to the other
Tchaikovsky?) sonata.  Superb.

Speaking of my morning listening, I finally decided to heed the list
members who talked up the composer Rebecca Clarke.  I am so grateful.
Got her Piano Trio and Viola Sonata.  By me, she's one of the century's
best, a bit like Bloch, on the basis of those two works.  Anybody know her
Cello Sonata?

Steve Schwartz