Utwory na płycie:

• String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3 / 145. IV. Presto
• String Quartet No. 5, Op. 27. 4. Improvisation -

String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 3/145
String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 27
String Quartet No. 8 in C major, Op. 66

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) w swoim twórczym dorobku ma siedemnaście kwartetów smyczkowych, które powstawały na przestrzeni prawie pół wieku. Na pierwszym woluminie zaplanowanej serii znalazły się trzy kompozycje. Kwartet nr 2 powstał na początku wojny, w latach 1939-40 w czasie studiów w Mińsku, kolejny Kwartet nr 5 pochodzi z roku 1945 i posiada silne wpływy Szostakowicza. Z kolei Kwartet nr 8 został skomponowany w 1959 roku i uchodzi za jeden z najsłynniejszych utworów Weinberga. Zespół Arcadia Quartet post-awił sobie za cel propagowanie tych dzieł, aby uzyskały należne im miejsce w świecie muzyki, zwłaszcza tej kwartetowej. I po pierwszym krążku można śmiało powiedzieć, że mają szansę tego dokonać. Przekonujące.

---

The seventeen string quartets of Weinberg span nearly half a century, from his student days in Warsaw to the end of his career in Moscow, and show his development as a composer more clearly than his work in any other genre. The Second Quartet, composed in 1939 – 40 whilst studying in Minsk, was dedicated to his mother and sister, who he would later learn had not survived the German invasion of Poland.

Quartet No. 5, of 1945, was the first in which he added titles to each movement, and reflects the influence of Shostakovich over the young composer. The final quartet in this programme – No. 8 – was written in 1959 and dedicated to the Borodin Quartet. For many years the best-known of Weinberg’s quartets in the west, this single-movement work is divided into three sections with a coda.

The Arcadia Quartet is a passionate advocate for these quartets, writing: ‘[Weinberg’s] music is like a glow of light surrounded by the darkness of the unknown, and it quickly became a goal of ours to attempt to dilute these shadows. With every recording and every live performance of his music, we intend to shine some light on this wideranging, profound phenomenon, which has remained overlooked for so long, and we hope that, with time, Mieczysław Weinberg will take his rightful place in the history of music.’

---

Recording: Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk; 4 – 6 March 2020