Weinberg: String Quartets Nos. 1, 7 & 11, Vol. 2 Arcadia Quartet

• Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919 - 1996): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141:
• 1 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141: I. Allegro comodo 07:21
• 2 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141: II. Andante tranquillo 06:25
• 3 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2/141: III. Allegro molto 07:05
• String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59:
• 4 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59: I. Adagio 08:50
• 5 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59: II. Allegretto 05:43
• 6 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 7, Op. 59: III. Adagio 13:17
• String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89:
• 7 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89: I. Allegro assai 06:33
• 8 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89: II. Allegretto - Coda 03:06
• 9 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89: III. Adagio semplice 05:13
• 10 Weinberg: String Quartet No. 11, Op. 89: IV. Allegro leggiero 06:06
• Total Runtime 01:09:39

Info for Weinberg: String Quartets Nos. 1, 7 & 11, Vol. 2

For this the second volume in their series of Weinberg’s string quartets, the Arcadia Quartet again presents three quartets from contrasting periods in the stylistic development of the composer. The first quartet of the self-taught teenager, written in 1937, in what Weinberg later described as his ‘neo-impressionist’ style, was heavily revised later in his life, and eventually republished as Op. 141, in 1985. (It is this revised version that has been recorded here, the original version surviving only in manuscript form, in places virtually illegible.) The seventh quartet dates from 1957, after a gap of twenty turbulent years that had witnessed the emigration of Weinberg from Poland to Russia, his introduction to Shostakovich, and his experience of censorship and imprisonment in 1953. In contrast to his earlier quartets, the mood is more intimate and withdrawn, yet defiant. The eleventh quartet was composed between 13 October 1965 and 25 December 1966, at a time when Weinberg was mulling over the composition of his first opera, The Passenger. It is dedicated to his first daughter, Victoria, and was premièred by the Borodin Quartet on 13 April 1967 in the Chamber Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.

Arcadia Quartet

Arcadia Quartet
Winners of the 2014 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, the 2012 Wigmore Hall London International String Quartet Competition, the 2011 Almere International Chamber Music Competition in 2011 and the International Chamber Music Competition Hamburg in 2009, the Arcadia Quartet is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most exciting string quartets of their generation.

Formed in 2006 while students at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Romania, the quartet finished their postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and became the Alumni members of the European Chamber Music Academy, while they have performed across the world including performances at the Budapest Spring Festival, the International George Enescu Festival (Bucharest), Cité international des arts (Paris), Alte Oper Frankfurt, Pollack Hall (Montreal), The Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Izumi Hall (Osaka), Musikverein (Vienna), Aldeburgh Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, North Norfolk Music Festival, Romanian Athenaeum, Q’arto Mondi Festival (Poznań), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Kammermusiktage Mettlach, Zeist Music Days Festival in The Netherlands, throughout the United Kingdom, in Portugal, in Tel-Aviv and in Beijing. The Quartet made their BBC Radio 3 debut with a broadcast concert from the Wigmore Hall in March 2015, and in April 2015 were invited to become the Quartet-in-Residence at the prestigious Tinerimea Română National Art Centre in Bucharest, playing six concerts a year broadcast by the Romanian Broadcasting Company. Over the years the Quartet have collaborated with many internationally renown artists such as Marin Cazacu, Diana Ligeti, Amit Peled, Remus Azoiței, Sarah Chang, Robert Levin, János Bálint, Seiya Ueno, Ad Libitum Quartet, Con Tempo Quartet, Belcea Quartet, etc.

The Arcadia Quartet’s debut disc of works by Mendelssohn and Brahms was released by Fontenay Classics in 2009 attracting critical acclaim. Ensemble Magazin wrote of ‘their intimate performance’, ‘their exceptional sonority’ and their ‘expressive power which leaves a deep impression on the listener’. Their recording of Janáček Quartet No. 1 and No. 2 was released on the label Orchid Classics in October 2013. The Sunday Times wrote of ‘a beauty that pierces the heart’, and that ‘both works are played with searing intensity by the fine young Romanian quartet’. The Financial Times wrote that the quartet ‘create a mood of edgy expressionism that, in its violent swings and chromatic stresses, is shockingly direct and dramatic, like an opera – or a nightmare’, that ‘the result is an assault on the senses, piercing the heart of this unsettling music’.

The Arcadia Quartet started collaborating with Chandos Records in September 2017, launching an album containing the complete Bartók string quartets. This double CD comes with commendatory reviews from the most esteemed professional publications of the world and with 5 star reviews in the magazines Diapason and Classica. The album was named Disc of the Week by BBC Radio 3, one of the best albums of October 2018 by WQXR-FM in New York, and Disc of the Month by Classica magazine in January 2019.

An extraordinary new project is on the way with Chandos Records: the recording of all 17 string quartets of Mieczysław Weinberg. This set of 6 CDs will be launched in the following 5 years.

"The Romanian ensemble lives through the emotional eruptions in Janáček’s music with heart and soul ... every accent is a stich into the heart." Marcus Stäbler, Fono Forum, April 2014

“the playing has such intensity....The result is an assault on the senses, piercing the heart of this unsettling music” The Financial Times, September 2013

Booklet for Weinberg: String Quartets Nos. 1, 7 & 11, Vol. 2