Following the success of the Weinberg Symphonies 2 & 21 with conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Deutsche Grammophon now features chamber music by Mieczysław Weinberg under the direction of Gidon Kremer.
Piano, violin, and violoncello: Trio Marvin's debut album presents to us all the energy that composers have bundled together in this instrumental combination since the Romantic period. Vita Kan, Marius Urba and Marina Grauman describe Echoes of War as their juxtaposition of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Mieczyslaw Weinberg, two composers who were influenced by World War II and Stalinism. The three draw us into a rhythm of hope, despair, and grief, igniting a firework of bright colors. Perfection, passion and musical superiority: it's easy to understand the enthusiasm of the jurors of the ARD Music Competition 2018, the Mendelssohn Competition 2017 and other major competitions who have awarded the ensemble so many first prizes!
Trio Khnopff writes of this new release: Weinbergs Trio was one of the first big pieces we played together, and it has remained a unanimous favorite. The huge emotional spectrum, the quality and originality of the writing, the instrumental challenge, the composer himself (a young man facing the greatest personal and societal challenges) this all comes together in his Trio to create a work that resonates deeply with us and that has been something of a constant companion. The idea of dedicating our first album to Weinberg, and more precisely to the pivotal time around 1945, felt like a natural one. His works from this time are extremely diverse: the Trio is monumental in breadth and emotional impact; the cello sonata seems to quote the entire history of music in twenty minutes (from the baroque to the jazz age!); the Songs Without Words and sincere and beautiful in their simplicity; and the Rhapsody showcases Weinbergs instrumental inventiveness by way of great violinistic virtuosity. Furthermore the Two Songs without Words, unpublished to this date, are here recorded as a world premiere.
Named after the legendary violinist Adolf Busch (1891-1952), this young trio has already established itself on the international scene as one of the most talented of the new generation. Under the aegis of Alpha Classics and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the group set itself a challenge: to record the complete chamber music with keyboard of Antonín Dvorák. They managed to complete this project in four years and four albums: two albums of the piano trios, one of the piano quartets and one of the quintets. They were joined where necessary by the violist Miguel da Silva (founder of the famous Quatuor Ysaÿe) and the violinist Maria Milstein.