Mieczysław Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies, Piano Quintet Kremerata Baltica & Gidon Kremer

• Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 - 1996): Chamber Symphony No. 3, Op. 151:
• 1I. Lento10:02
• 2II. Allegro molto04:44
• 3III. Adagio06:42
• 4IV. Andantino12:14
• Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 147:
• 5I. Allegro molto08:42
• 6II. Pesante moderato05:23
• 7III. Andante sostenuto08:35
• Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 145:
• 8I. Allegro06:30
• 9II. Andante08:41
• 10III. Allegretto04:24
• 11IV. Presto03:43
• Piano Quintet, Op. 18:
• 12I. Moderato con moto (44.1 khz)08:09
• 13II. Allegretto (44.1 khz)06:22
• 14III. Presto (44.1 khz)06:00
• 15IV. Largo (44.1 khz)14:28
• 16V. Allegro agitato (44.1 khz)08:26
• Chamber Symphony No. 4, Op. 153:
• 17I. Lento (44.1 khz)08:55
• 18II. Allegro molto - Moderato (44.1 khz)07:56
• 19III. Adagio - Meno messo (44.1 khz)10:19
• 20IV. Andantino - Adagissimo (44.1 khz)08:58
• Total Runtime02:39:13

Info for Mieczysław Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies, Piano Quintet

This double album, recorded in Vienna and in Riga in June 2015, includes all four of the chamber symphonies written in the last decade of Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg’s life, plus a beautiful new arrangement – by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata percussionist Andrey Pushkarev – of the early Piano Quintet of 1944, heard here in a premiere recording. It is a recording which underlines the importance and originality of Weinberg’s music. For Gidon Kremer, “Weinberg has become a source of unlimited inspiration. No other composer has entered my own and Kremerata Baltica’s repertoire and program concepts with such intensity.” Weinberg’s chamber symphonies are Kremer says, “the most personal reflections of a great composer on his own life and his generation, like a diary of the most dramatic period of the 20th century.” This new recording – the second Kremerata Baltica album dedicated to Weinberg – is, Kremer feels, “the most valuable landmark in the orchestra’s discography since its birth.”

It is released in time for a major tour celebrating both Kremerata Baltica’s 20th anniversary and leader Gidon Kremer’s 70th birthday. The booklet includes liner notes by Weinberg biographer David Fanning, as well as a personal recollection of the composer by Alexander Raskatov.

Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
Mate Bekavec, clarinet
Kremerata Baltica
Gidon Kremer, violin, direction
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, conductor

Please note: This album consists of different sampling rates. First album in 96kHz, second album 44.1kHz.

Gidon Kremer
Of all the world’s leading violinists, Gidon Kremer has perhaps had the most unconventional career. Born in Riga, Latvia, he began studying at the age of four with his father and grandfather, who were both distinguished string players. At the age of seven, he entered Riga Music School. At sixteen he was awarded the first Prize of the Latvian Republic and two years later he began his studies with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. He went on to win prestigious awards including the 1967 Queen Elizabeth Competition and the first prize in both Paganini and Tchaikovsky International Competitions.

This success launched Gidon Kremer’s distinguished career, in the course of which he has established a worldwide reputation as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation. He has appeared on virtually every major concert stage with the most celebrated orchestras of Europe and America. Also he has collaborated with today’s foremost conductors.

Gidon Kremer’s repertoire is unusually extensive, encompassing all of the standard classical and romantic violin works, as well as music by twentieth- and twenty-first century masters such as Henze, Berg and Stockhausen. He also championed the works of living Russian and Eastern European composers and has performed many important new compositions; several of them dedicated to him. He has become associated with such diverse composers as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Aribert Reimann, Peteris Vasks, John Adams, Victor Kissine, Michael Nyman, Philipp Glass, Leonid Desyatnikov and Astor Piazzolla, bringing their music to audiences in a way that respects tradition yet remains contemporary. It would be fair to say that no other soloist of his international stature has done as much for contemporary composers in the past 30 years.

An exceptionally prolific recording artist, Gidon Kremer has made more than 120 albums, many of which brought him prestigious international awards and prizes in recognition of his exceptional interpretative powers. These include the „Grand prix du Disque“, „Deutscher Schallplattenpreis“, the „Ernst-von-Siemens Musikpreis“, the „Bundesverdienstkreuz“, the „Premio dell‘ Accademia Musicale Chigiana“, the „Triumph Prize 2000” (Moscow), in 2001 the „Unesco Prize”, in 2007 the Saeculum-Glashütte Original-Musikfestspielpreis Dresden and in 2008 the Rolf-Schock Prize, Stockholm, in 2010 "life achievement" prize of the Istanbul Music festival, and in 2011 he was awarded "Una Vita Nella Musica - Artur Rubinstein" Prize (Venice) which is considered by many to be the "Nobel Prize" of music, among many others.

In February 2002 he and the Kremerata Baltica were awarded with the Grammy for the Nonesuch recording “After Mozart” in the category “Best small Ensemble Performance”. The same recording received in the fall of 2002 an ECHO prize in Germany.

The EMI Classics CD „The Berlin Recital“ with Martha Argerich and works by Schumann and Bartók has been recently released as well as an album with all violin concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a live recording with the label Nonesuch, recorded with Kremerata Baltica at Salzburg Festival 2006. His latest CD „De Profundis“ was published in September 2010 with Nonesuch. Gidon Kremer actively collaborates as well with the ECM label, which released his last recording of all J. S. Bach Sonatas and Partitas. The most recent releases are a Piano trio album with Khatia Buniatishvili and Giedre Dirvanauskaite and a CD set of Lockenhaus Live-recordings celebrating the 30 years of this unique festival, G. Kremer concluded in 2011.

In 1981 Mr. Kremer founded Lockenhaus, an intimate chamber music festival that continued to take place every summer in Austria for 30 years until 2011. In 1997, he founded the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra to foster outstanding young musicians from the three Baltic States. Since then, Mr. Kremer has been touring extensively with the orchestra appearing at world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls. He has also recorded almost 20 CD’s with the orchestra for Teldec, Nonesuch, DGG and ECM. (From 2002 - 2006 Gidon Kremer was the artistic leader of the new festival „les muséiques” in Basel (Switzerland)).

Gidon Kremer plays a Nicola Amati, dated from 1641. He is also the author of three books, published in German and translated into many languages, which reflect his artistic pursuits.

Booklet for Mieczysław Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies, Piano Quintet