Mieczys?aw Weinberg: Piano Quintet Op. 18, Children's Notebook

Shostakovich premiered his wildly successful piano quintet in 1940. Five years later, his new young friend Mieczys?aw Weinberg premiered one of his own. For that occasion, on 18 March 1945, the 25-year old Weinberg secured the services of the Bolshoi String Quartet and a 30-year old pianist, already famous by then, named Emil Gilels. The Quintet Op. 18 is undoubtedly one of the great chamber pieces of its time and is a superb entry-point into the world of Weinberg. As with any truly great masterpiece, a work like the Piano Quintet benefits from, and indeed demands, many divergent interpretations. This also includes different versions of the work, such as this arrangement for chamber orchestra, reflecting the fact that Weinberg himself arranged several of his works for chamber orchestra; and his friend Shostakovich’s string quartets have also popularly lent themselves to such arrangements. This orchestral version gives us just one more way to discover and enjoy Weinberg’s ingenious legacy to his belated but finally eager public.