Wigmore Hall to stage complete Weinberg cycle

Wigmore Hall to stage complete Weinberg cycle

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norman lebrecht

January 23, 2019

London’s chamber music hub announced today that it will programme the 17 string quartets of Mieczysław Weinberg over 11 concerts in the next two seasons. The works will be played by the Danel Quartet and programmed alongside the quartets of Weinberg’s close friend, Dmitri Shostakovich.

The cycle was recently performed at a Weinberg symposium at Manchester University.

Well done, Wigmore Hall!

The two composers at the post-Stalin premiere of DSCH 10th

Comments

  • Michael Horwood says:

    The Danels played all these quartets in public at Manchester University back in 2009. They are repeating this feat there this coming weekend 24 to 27 January 2019 — seven concerts over a mere four days and the quartets will be performed in chronological order. Such intense experiences can be very rewarding.

    • Michael B. says:

      The Danels have recorded a complete cycle of the Weinberg quartets on CPO. They also had previously recorded a well-received complete cycle of the Shostakovich quartets on Fuga Libera.

    • Michael Horwood says:

      I have now attended all of the Manchester Weinberg quartet concerts and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The Danels played excellently and well deserved the standing ovation at the end of the last concert.
      There are one or two moments of heavy going but the quartets are not difficult to grasp and there is no reason for them not to be part of the standard repertoire.

    • michelle assay says:

      Indeed it was! They actually included a world premiere of a discarded movement of Weinberg’s 7th quartet and a UK premiere of two short pieces…We included also a double-bass solo sonata, a song cycle and 6th piano sonata (all by Weinberg). And as for the blog entry above… it’s so wrong that it’s comical.

  • Old Man in the Midwest says:

    A genius that is finally getting his due. Glad to see so many performances of his work around the globe.

  • Adrienne says:

    Actually all the quartets were heard in Manchester UK about 10 years ago, when the Danel did the complete Weinberg cycle at Manchester University!

  • Gregor Tassie says:

    This is great news, so will the Wigmore be programming other lesser known Russian composers’ chamber works???
    What about the 13 string quartets by Myaskovsky for example?
    I already know what the answer will be sadly…

  • phf655 says:

    The Daniel Quartet is performing the Weinberg cycle at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC in five concerts between April 28 and May 12.

  • John Borstlap says:

    Great news… may there follow more of such initiatives.

  • Camden says:

    I’m going to hear the Danels play some of these at Manchester University in a few hours.

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