Round-up of news

This is a short round-up of recent and upcoming releases, upcoming concerts and events and anything else in the category of 'other news'.

Releases

I hope the release of the Pacifica Quartet's 'Soviet Experience Vol. 3' CD has not slipped reader's by – the latest volume in their excellent Shostakovich cycle features Weinberg's Sixth Quartet, in a refreshing and energised rendition. BBC Music's CD of the month in their August issue this year, it is certainly well worth buying. (The previous two volumes of Shostakovich quartets, featuring Myaskovsky's Thirteenth Quartet and Prokofiev's First, are also well worth buying, if only for the dynamism in their Shostakovich interpretations).

September sees the release of a new CD, featuring Weinberg's Concertino for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 42, alongside the familiar Chamber Symphonies of Shostakovich (i.e. Quartets 8 and 10 arranged for String Orchestra by Rudolf Barshai – the tenth quartet should stand out to readers, as it is dedicated to Weinberg). This album is released to celebrate the silver anniversary of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, with artistic director Candida Thompson as soloist. [Review to follow upon release].
P.s. more info available here.

Concerts/Events

Hamburg Chamber Music Festival
 - I have promoted this upcoming event several times. See here for my previous post on the festival. See their website also, for more info.

Traunsteiner Sommerkonzerte
 - A mini-festival, running 1st-8th September in the town of Traunstein, Bavaria, with a composer-portrait focus on Weinberg.
Their programme features the following Weinberg works:

'The Cranes are Flying' - (Film Screening)
 Piano Quintet, Op. 18
Clarinet Sonata, Op. 28
Third sonata for solo Viola, Op. 135
Second sonata for Cello and piano, Op. 63
String Quartet No. 15, Op. 124
Screening of the 2010 Bregenz production of The Passenger, Op. 97
Piano trio, Op. 24

It's certainly an exciting programme, one with a great list of performers, too, including the Quatuor Danel, Julia Rebekkah Adler, Atrium Quartett, Jascha Nemsov and many others who will be familiar to Weinberg enthusiasts.

See the festival website here.

Wigmore Hall, London

A chamber music concert, featuring piano trios by Shostakovich, Weinberg and Brahms, with Janine Jensen, Torleif Thedéen and Itamar Golan.

Programme as follows:

Shostakovich

Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Op. 8

Weinberg

Piano Trio Op. 24

Brahms

Piano Trio No. 1 in B Op. 8

Tickets and further info can be found at the Wigmore Hall website, here.

Upcoming dates

23rd August (next Friday) marks the ninetieth birthday of Zofia Posmysz, author of the novel Pasażerka, upon which Weinberg's opera The Passenger is based. Posmysz is a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and a ceremony has been organised in her honour for 25th August, by the International Auschwitz committee - link here.

For more info on Posmysz and The Passenger, see my post here.

Other news

I am delighted to inform you that I will be speaking at the Festival Voix Etouffées in Strausbourg, 7-8 November, on the topic of Weinberg and Holocaust commemoration. More details to follow. D.E.