Our Recording of the Month features music by Mieczysław Weinberg, the increasingly rated Polish-Jewish composer who found a tenuous refuge in the USSR and was a close friend of Shostakovich. The Romanian Arcadia Quartet’s second volume of his string quartets (CHAN20174) is a must for anyone with an interest in the composer’s life and times or the genre in general. As they explain, coming across Weinberg’s music felt like a true moment of artistic discovery. “His music is like a glow of light surrounded by the darkness of the unknown, and it quickly became a goal of ours to attempt to dilute these shadows,” they write.
“Recorded with exemplary warmth and clarity by Chandos, the program brings together three quartets from different points in the composer’s life,” writes Rebecca Franks in a five-star review. “If his music has languished in the shadows for too long, the Arcadia Quartet should be applauded for bringing it into the light.” Magnificent music, magnificently played.
Also excelling in the string quartet medium is South Australian composer Anne Cawrse. Her first full...
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