Dmitri Schostakovitch, Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Violin Sonatas

The present program is a continuation of Jascha Nemtsov’s exploration of the music of Shostakovich and his Jewish circle of friends featuring a trio of Violin Sonatas. The tragedy of Mieczys³aw Weinberg sadly continues posthumously, as his musical output remains largely unperformed and unrecorded. Weinberg was a close friend of Shostakovich and the two composers often exchanged both ideas and admiration and while regarded as one of Shostakovich’s lesser imitators, the two highly original Weinberg Sonatas performed here provide tremendous contrast to Shostakovich’s dark score. Nemtsov is joined by violinist Kolja Blacher in vivid, emotionally charged readings, making this a stunningly beautiful and extremely valuable addition to the recorded literature.