Piano Quintets

Two jewels of 20th century chamber music, piano quintets by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) and Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), are contained on this Animal Music release in excellent performance by one of the best Czech ensembles - The Stamic Quartet, together with pianist Aneta Majerová. The Polish-born Weinberg was of Jewish origin and spent most of his life in the USSR. He is often ranked (along with Shostakovich and Prokofiev) among the most significant Soviet composers of the 20th century. His importance, however, is still being discovered, his oeuvre being popularized namely by the violinist Gidon Kremer, performer of many Weinberg's compositions. Ernest Bloch was also of Jewish origin; he lived alternately in Switzerland and in the USA, where he took refuge from the German Nazi regime.