Weinberg's String Quartet No. 8 was for many years the best known, and possibly only known, of his quartets in the West, thanks to its memorable qualities.
Composer Biography
Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-born composer from a secular Jewish family, twice escaped Nazi invasions, finally settling in Moscow where he lived until his death.
Compositional Technique
Weinberg's String Quartet No. 2 was later scored for full string orchestra as his First Chamber Symphony, Op. 145, with some retouching of the quartet version.
Composition History
Weinberg's String Quartet No. 2 was dedicated to his mother and sister, whose fate was unknown to him at the time but who he later learned had not survived the German invasion.
Performer Biography
The Arcadia Quartet, formed in 2006, has won several international competitions, including the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in 2012.
Recording & Production
This Chandos recording uses 24-bit / 96 kHz technology, which offers a dynamic range up to 48 dB greater and 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Weinberg's musical identity is defined by a balance between his multiple influences, including Polish and Jewish inflections, and the style of his mentor Dmitri Shostakovich.
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