Bbc TV

Every five years the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the October 1917 Revolution with large-scale public events, to which the country’s leading artists were expected to contribute. Mieczyslaw Weinberg, like his friend Shostakovich, enjoyed mixed fortunes with his efforts. The symphonic poem Dawn (Zarya), Op. 60, dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the Revolution, seems to have remained unperformed during his lifetime, despite its ideologically irreproachable content. Its première was finally given in the BBC studios in Manchester, on 15 May 2019, by the BBC Philharmonic under John Storgårds. When Shostakovich died, on 9 August 1975, it had been five years since Weinberg composed his last symphony.

All but one of the 15 songs were recorded in concert for the BBC on December 8, 1982 (the one remaining track, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," was recorded on March 23, 1981 for a separate BBC broadcast). The Blues Band were, in limited respects, a big deal in Britain in this era: a blues-rock group with integrity and pedigree that had a reputation as an excellent live act. On this record, it must be said, they come across more like an above-average blues-rock bar band, one that happens to feature a singer (Paul Jones) who's much, much better than the typical bloke you'll see fronting a bunch of geezers doing Chess covers at the local pub…