This disc completes Rostislav Krimer’s survey of Weinberg’s chamber symphonies with the East-West Chamber Orchestra. As David Fanning rightly noted about Vol 1 (1/20), Krimer has an instinct for this music, eliciting some marvellous playing from the orchestra. True, the Kremerata Baltica have a touch more refinement in their overall presentation, while Anna Duczmal-Mróz and the electrifying Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, who so impressed Richard Whitehouse (6/20), are more intense than either.

Nonetheless, I rather like Krimer’s way with the music, his slightly reined-in interpretation of the Second Chamber Symphony (1987, based on the Third String Quartet of 1944) emphasising the ‘chamber’ aspect and finding the music between the notes. That same approach informs his account of the sinfonia concertante-like Fourth (1992), now one of Weinberg’s most-recorded pieces, and the last work he completed (as he did not complete the orchestration of his Symphony No 22). Igor Fedorov is at least as persuasive a soloist as any of his competitors, blending well with the orchestra when he should and dominating when the writing requires him to, as does his Naxos stablemate Robert Oberaigner, perhaps the most satisfying of the soloists in a fascinating programme of Weinberg’s clarinet works.

In truth, there is little to choose in quality between any of the rival versions. If we take just Nos 2 and 4, this newcomer is edged out by Duczmal-Mróz, who couples these works with two other compositions in a two-disc set. As cycles, however, Krimer & co are definite contenders, since Rachlevsky’s curious omission of No 2 puts his Claves set rather in no man’s land. Kremerata Baltica on ECM, who offer an arrangement (not Weinberg’s) of the Piano Quintet, may remain my preference by a slim margin but this is not to deny the many strengths of this newcomer. Naxos’s sound is fine.