The Arcadia Quartet, the performers on this album, won the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London in 2012 and the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2014.
Critical Reception
Eighteen months after its completion, Weinberg's Sixth Quartet was placed on an official list of 'non-recommended' compositions in February 1948, possibly due to its advanced musical language.
Notable Performances
Weinberg's Sixth Quartet was likely not performed during his lifetime, with its public world premiere given by the Quatuor Danel in Manchester on January 25, 2007.
Composition History
Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6, Op. 35, was dedicated to his friend Georgiy Sviridov, a composer he met through Dmitri Shostakovich.
Compositional Technique
Weinberg's String Quartet No. 13, Op. 118, is his shortest quartet, lasting about fourteen or fifteen minutes, and is notable for dispensing with character indications, using only metronome markings.
Compositional Technique
String Quartet No. 15, Op. 124, is considered the most radically conceived of Weinberg's quartets, featuring a nine-movement design without titles or expressive directions.
Composer Biography
Mieczysław Weinberg, the composer, settled in Moscow in September 1943 after dramatic escapes from Nazi invasions, first from Warsaw to Minsk in 1939, then from Minsk to Tashkent in 1941.
