The Kirpal brothers, Stefan and Andreas, are award-winning chamber musicians who have received prizes at the Palma d'oro Chamber Music Competition and the Johannes Brahms Competition.
Composition History
Unlike Shostakovich, who left only a few sonatas for solo instruments, Weinberg composed nearly thirty sonatas in total, including six for violin and piano and three for solo violin.
Compositional Technique
The Sonata for Two Violins, dedicated to violinists Yelizaveta Gilels and Leonid Kogan, is one of Weinberg's most demanding chamber works, featuring 28 variations on an eight-and-a-half-bar theme in its first movement.
Recording & Production
The Kirpal brothers' first CD of Weinberg's works on cpo received the prestigious Diapason d'or award in 2010.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Weinberg considered himself a pupil of Dmitry Shostakovich, his friend and mentor, and acknowledged his influence, stating, 'I count myself as his pupil, his flesh and blood'.
Historical Context
In 1953, Weinberg was arrested on charges of 'Jewish bourgeois nationalism' and held for eleven weeks in Lubyanka and Butyrka prisons, following the murder of his father-in-law, Solomon Mikhoels, by Stalin's order.
Composer Biography
Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish composer, fled Nazi invasions in 1939 and 1941 before settling in Moscow in 1943.
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