Linus Roth first encountered the music of Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) in 2010 when he was scheduled to play Weinberg's Piano Trio at a chamber music festival. After the first rehearsal, Roth found himself shocked and moved in equal measure by the intensity and energy of the music and also touched by the beauty of the compositional work. Not only were the characteristics of the inner turmoil obvious in the deep abysses and darkness in the music, but also those of the hope and light contained therein, which repeatedly shone through. At the time Roth knew almost nothing about Weinberg’s life nor any of his other works and he was eager to find out more about this enigmatic composer and if Weinberg had composed anything specifically for the violin.

It was then that an unexpected treasure chest opened up for Roth: a Violin Concerto with symphony orchestra and one with chamber orchestra, 3 solo Sonatas, 7 Sonatas with piano and a number of chamber music works all revealed themselves to him, much of them unrecorded. Roth was amazed at this discovery: how often does a musician get to discover an entire oeuvre that is first-rate and yet has been overlooked? Having first engaged with the complete recording of all the works for violin, for this welcome new recording, Roth returns to his first encounter with the music of Weinberg, namely the Piano Trio op.24, written in 1945. Coupled here with the Sonata op. 69 for Two Violins, written in 1959, the ‘Songs without Words’ from 1947 and the ‘Largo’ from 1991, which is above all a worldpremiere recording. To showcase this profound music, Roth has gathered around him a group of trusted regular musical partners: Argentine pianist, José Gallardo; German cellist, Danjulo Ishizaka and Polish violinist, Janusz Wawrowski.

Until shortly before his death in 1996, Weinberg’s works were regularly performed with great enthusiasm by Russian artists and finally they are slowly but surely reaching international concert stages. Weinberg's Piano Trio, like his other numerous works, shows his immense mastery of all compositional forms, genres and styles - always shaped by events in his own fateful life, such as escape, expulsion, the murder of his family and the constant danger to his own being. Linus Roth hopes that humankind will never again allow such dark times to happen as those that Weinberg had to endure and that luminous hope will always follows the darkness.


This production was supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.