At age 15, Weinberg supported his family by performing at weddings, bars, and restaurants, while also mastering advanced repertoire like Liszt's B minor Sonata.
Composer Biography
Mieczysław Weinberg was invited to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia by virtuoso pianist Josef Hofmann, but the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 prevented him from attending.
Composer Biography
Mieczysław Weinberg, like his friend Dmitri Shostakovich, was both a composer and pianist, though his career increasingly focused on composition.
Performer Biography
Allison Brewster Franzetti, the pianist on this recording, was a 2008 Grammy® nominee for Best Instrumental Soloist without Orchestra.
Recording & Production
This album features world premiere recordings of Mieczysław Weinberg's complete piano works, Volume 1.
Composition History
Weinberg's earliest surviving piano works are the Two Mazurkas, composed in 1933, a few weeks before his fourteenth birthday.
Historical Context
During the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Mieczysław Weinberg fled to Minsk, leaving behind his parents and sister, who later perished in concentration camps.
