Mieczysław Weinberg, Ernest Bloch : Piano Quintets
Animal 057-2 (Supraphon)

Aneta Majerová, piano
The Stamic Quartet:
Jindřich Pazdera, violin
Josef Kekula, violin
Jan Pěruška, viola
Petr Hejný, violoncello

Recording director: Jiří Gemrot
Mastering: Ondřej Urban
3 février 2017

Mieczysław Weinberg: Piano Quintet op. 18 (1944)
Czech Radio Studio No. 1, Prague / Jakub Hadraba
1. Moderato con moto 8:38
2. Alegretto 7:24
3. Presto 6:25
4. Largo 14:59
5. Allegro agitato 9:39

Ernest Bloch: Piano Quintet No.2 (1957)
HAMU Sound Studio, Prague / Ondřej Urban
6. Animato 4:58
7. Andante 5:50
8. Allegro 7:29

On this album the pianist Aneta Majerová together with the Stamic Quartet bring two jewels of 20th century chamber music.
Piano Quintet op. 18 of unjustly neglected Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who spent most of his life in the USSR, is one of many pieces of evidence in his large compositional legacy
proving that he is properly classified along with Shostakovich and Prokofiev among the three leading Soviet composers of the 20th century.
While Weinberg´s quintet is one of the early works of its author, Ernest Bloch´s piano quintet ranks among his last compositions.
Bloch was, like Weinberg, of Jewish origin and lived alternately in Switzerland and the USA.