Track list
He was born into a musical family. His father was a composer and violinist; he conducted a music ensemble at Warsaw’s Jewish Scala Theatre. He was also a head of the Jewish department of the Syrena Records phonographic company. It was at the Scala Theatre that Weinberg played his first concert as a pianists at age ten (or eleven). In 1931 he began studies the State Warsaw Conservatory in Warsaw. He studied piano under Józef Turczyński and in 1937, he composed for his teacher String Quartet No. 1.
After the outbreak of WWII, he emigrated to the Soviet Union. His family lost their life in the Nazi Trawniki concentration camp in 1943. Weinberg initially settled in Minsk (now Belarus), where in 1939-41 he studied composition with Vasily Zolotarev. In 1941 he fled the German invasion to Tashkent (Uzbekistan), where he worked in the opera and ballet theatre and married Natalia Vovsi-Mikhoels, the daughter of the Salomon Mikhoels – the city’s Jewish theatre actor and play director, at that time director of the opera and ballet theatre.
Two years later (1943), he sent a manuscript of his Symphony No. 1 to Dmitri Shostakovich in Moscow. This was the start of a long-time friendship between the two composers. Thanks to Shostakovich’s efforts, Weinberg could come to Moscow and he lived there till the end of his life, dedicating himself mostly to composition and giving concerts as a pianist. 1948 saw the assassination of his father-in-law (related to Stalin’s anti-Semitic witch-hunt); five years later Weinberg himself was arrested for the same reasons and spent almost three months in prison. He was released thanks to Shostakovich’s intervention after Stalin’s death. The deep friendship between the composers found its reflection in their music. Shostakovich dedicated to Weinberg his String Quartet No. 10, and the latter responded with the dedication of his Symphony No. 12. In 1975 Shostakovich attended the premiere of Weinberg’s opera The Madonna and the Soldier. He could return to Warsaw in 1966, when he was delegated to visit the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.
In 1971 he was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist of the Soviet Union, in 1980 – National Artist of the Soviet Union. In 1990 he received State Award of the Soviet Union.
Weinberg’s extensive output comprises 26 symphonies, 7 concertos, 17 string quartets, about 30 song cycles, 22 sonatas for piano and other instruments, 7 operas, 2 ballets, music for 65 films, theatrical plays and radio dramas.
For the most part, Weinberg’s music represents the neo-Classical style. Most frequently he made use of the sonata form, which appears in all of his symphonies and concertos, all his string quartets and instrumental sonatas. His style is transparent and clear, and he maintains a fine balance between form and content. In many of his compositions one can trace the influences of Prokofiev, Hindemith, Bartók, Mahler and – most of all – Shostakovich. Weinberg frequently introduced programmatic, autobiographical elements in his compositions – mainly related to memories of his childhood and World War II. His religious music for choir is focused and meditative. Two of his symphonies, No. 21 and No. 26 “Kaddish”, commemorate the extermination of the inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto, where many of his relatives perished. Three other symphonies (Nos. 17, 18 and 19) form a trilogy entitled On the Threshold of War. The “programmatic” character of Weinberg’s music typically manifests itself in the use of motifs drawing on Polish folklore, on Jewish or Moldovan music.
Source: Polish Music Information Centre, Polish Composers’ Union
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Twelve Miniatures for flute and piano, Op. 29, 1946 No. 1 Improvisation, No. 2 Arietta, No. 3 Burlesque, No. 4 Capriccio, No. 5 Nocturne, No. 6 Waltz, No. 7 Ode, No. 8 Duet, No. 9 Barcarolle, No. 10 Etude, No. 11 Intermezzo, No. 12 Pastorale Buy 5 pieces for flute and piano, 1947 No. 1 Landscape, No. 2 First Dance, No. 3 Second Dance, No. 4 Melody, No. 5 Third Dance Buy Air for string quartet, Op. 9, 1942 Buy Capriccio for string quartet, Op. 11, 1943 Buy Two Songs Without Words for violin and piano, 1947 Buy String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141, 1937 rev. 1986 Buy Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano, Op. 12, 1943 Buy Sonata No. 1 for cello and piano, Op. 21, 1945 Buy String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3/145, 1940 rev. 1986 Buy Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano, Op. 15, 1944 Buy Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano, Op. 63, 1958-1959 Buy String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14, 1944 Buy Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano, Op. 37, 1947 Buy String Quartet No. 4, Op. 20, 1945 Buy Sonata No. 4 for violin and piano, Op. 39, 1947 Buy String Quartet No. 9, Op. 80, 1963 Buy Improvisation und Romanze for string quartet, 1950 Buy Piano Quintet, Op. 18, 1944 Buy Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes for violin and piano, Op. 47 No. 3, 1949/52 Buy Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes for violin and piano, Op. 47 No. 3, 1949/52 Buy Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 28, 1945 Buy String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141, 1937 rev. 1986 Buy Piano Trio, Op. 24, 1945 Buy Trio for flute, harp and viola, Op. 127, 1979 Buy String Trio Op. 48, 1950 Buy Three Pieces for violin and piano, 1934-1935 No. 1 Nocturne, No. 2 Scherzo, No. 3 Dreaming of a Doll Buy String Quartet No. 5, op. 27, 1945 Buy Sonata No. 5 for violin and piano, op. 53, 1953 Buy String Quartet No. 6, Op. 35, 1946 Buy Sonata No. 6 for violin and piano, Op. 136bis, 1982 Buy String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59, 1957 Buy String Quartet No. 8, Op. 66, 1959 Buy String Quartet No. 10, Op. 85, 1964 Buy String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89, 1965-1966 Buy String Quartet No. 12, Op. 103, 1969-1970 Buy String Quartet No. 13, Op. 118, 1977 Buy String Quartet No. 14, Op. 122, 1978 Buy String Quartet No. 15, Op. 124, 1979 Buy String Quartet No. 16, Op. 130, 1981 Buy String Quartet No. 17, Op. 146, 1987 Buy
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2 Mazurkas, 1933 Buy Twenty-One Easy Pieces for piano, Op. 34, 1946 No. 1 Merry March, No. 2 The Nightingale, No. 3 The Skipping Rope, No. 4 Baba-Yaga, No. 5 Playmates, No. 6 The Sick Doll, No. 7 A Tin Soldier, No. 8 A Grandmothers Fairy Tale, No. 9 The Shepherd Boy, No. 10 Hide and Seek, No. 11 Old Man Frost, No. 12 Melancholy Waltz, No. 13 The Goldfish, No. 14 Petrushkas Lament, No. 15 Game of Tag, No. 16 The Little Ball, No. 17 Lullaby for a Doll, No. 18 Bear Cubs, No. 19 Little Rabbits, No. 20 The Gray Wolf, No. 21 Good Night Buy Two Fugues, 1983 Buy Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 5, 1940 Buy Children's Notebook [Kinderheft] No. 1, Op. 16, 1944 Buy Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 8, 1942 Buy Children's Notebook [Kinderheft] No. 2, Op. 19, 1944 Buy Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 31, 1946 Buy Children's Notebook [Kinderheft] No. 3, Op. 23, 1945 Buy Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 56, 1955 Buy Cancan in honour of Rastorguyev, 1965 Buy Lullaby, Op. 1, 1935 Buy Partita, Op. 54, 1954 Buy Portraits of Friends (Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Shebalin, Khachaturian), 1950, lost work without opus number Sonata, Op. 49 bis, 1978 Buy Sonatina, Op. 49, 1951 Buy Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 58, 1956 Buy Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 73, 1960 Buy