Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Cello Sonata No. 2, Piano Quintet, Op. 18 - Weinberg Edition, Vol. 4

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Mieczyslaw Weinberg - Cello Sonata No. 2, Piano Quintet, Op. 18 - Weinberg Edition, Vol. 4

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Sonata for Violoncello and Piano No. 2 op. 63 (1959): The famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich became acquainted with Weinberg through the agency of Shostakovich, who wrote his First Cello Concerto for this much sought-after artist in 1959. Weinberg’s Second Cello Sonata, written at the same time, may have been a response to Shostakovich’s piece, although he always stressed his artistic independence from the elder master.

Rather, these two figures were connected by a fruitful dialogue. They showed each other their new works for appraisal and drew mutual inspiration from each other. Most of all, Shostakovich championed the younger Weinberg, even in politically difficult times. Remarkably, the main theme from Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto recurs in the finale of Weinberg’s Second Cello Sonata. Friendship can hardly be expressed more closely than that.

The percussive use of the piano in the final movement somewhat recalls the combination of folk music and modern harmony in Bartók’s Allegro barbaro (1911). The movement emphasises once again Weinberg’s great prowess at the piano, which even left Rostropovich impressed. When his wife Galina Vishnevskaya gave a lied recital and her accompanist Sviatoslav Richter fell ill, Weinberg stood in for him at short notice and managed the challenging programme with aplomb.

The first two movements of the Cello Sonata are lyrical in tone and display the cantabile character of the cello to splendid advantage. The broadly arched melody in the Moderato nicely emphasises the instrument’s low register. Folk music converges with an expressive impetus. The long build-up, culminating after some five minutes and answered by a brief farewell, is handled magnificently. The middle movement opens like a delicate lullaby. At first Weinberg has the cello whisper con sordino; later it is sensitively plucked. The melodic lines and the accompaniment alternate seamlessly between the two musicians.

Shostakovich’s D-minor Cello Sonata, op. 40, is frequently mentioned as a point of departure for Weinberg’s Second Sonata. Granted, there are a few points of similarity, but there are just as many differences, not only in the number of movements (four for Shostakovich, three for Weinberg), but especially in the tighter structure and always limpid piano texture of Weinberg’s work. Weinberg himself stressed that his friendship with Shostakovich tended “unconsciously” to “inspire his compositional creativity”.


Piano Quintet op. 18 (1944): The Piano Quintet, op. 18, is one of the most remarkable compositions to emerge from the Second World War. It was premièred in Moscow on 18 March 1945 by Emil Gilels and the strings of the Bolshoy Theatre. There is also a recording made in the early 1960s with the Borodin Quartet and Weinberg at the piano. The extroverted character of some of its passages may relate to the moving times in which the piece was conceived.

The composer had been driven from his native Poland by German forces in 1939. At first he lived in the Byelorussian city of Minsk, then in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The young man was undoubtedly impressed by the cultural influences of these cities, where he met many émigré artists and musicians. In the late summer of 1943 he moved to Moscow with his young wife Natalya – at the invitation of his benefactor Shostakovich.

Like Shostakovich’s famous counterpart, Weinberg’s Piano Quintet has five movements, including two scherzos that give the piece its propulsive dynamism, along with the fiery finale. In contrast, the slow movement and the introductory Moderato are richly expressive with a strong tinge of melancholy. At times we seem to be listening to a musical memorial.

Surely Weinberg often thought of his abandoned parents and his sister, all of whom perished in Warsaw. Yet these heavily subjective first-hand aspects of the Piano Quintet are integrated into an overriding form and fabric. The work, completed in 1944, is thoroughly thought-out. The introductory themes run through the five movements like a golden thread. Gossamer counterpoint and luscious sonorities reveal the genius of the young Weinberg, who presents his calling card to the world with extreme self-confidence.

His flexible handling of the strings and their sometimes novel connection with the demanding piano part reveal a new quality in chamber music. This was already apparent to the Russian composer Yuri Levitan in his review of the printed edition, where he specially singled out the “disturbingly lyrical and deeply meditative Adagio”.