BBC Music Magazine
January 2020
Chamber choice

Trio Khnopff

Weinberg: Trio for piano, violin and cello, Op. 24 (1945)
Weinberg: Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
Weinberg: Songs Without Words (2) for Violin and Piano
Weinberg: Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes, Op. 47, No. 3

Trio Khnopff present their debut album of works by Polish born Soviet composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, including the world premiere recording of Two Songs without Words.

Weinberg’s Trio was one of the first big pieces Trio Khnopff played together, and it has remained a unanimous favourite for them. The huge emotional spectrum, the quality and originality of the writing, the instrumental challenge, the composer himself (a young man facing the greatest personal and societal challenges) - this all comes together in his Trio to create a work that resonates deeply with the artists and that has been something of a constant companion.

The idea of dedicating the Khnopff Trio’s first album to Weinberg, and more precisely to the pivotal time around 1945, felt like a natural one. His works from this time are extremely diverse: the Trio is monumental in breadth and emotional impact; the cello sonata seems to quote the entire history of music in twenty minutes (from the baroque to the jazz age!); the Songs Without Words and sincere and beautiful in their simplicity; and the Rhapsody showcases Weinberg’s instrumental inventiveness by way of great violinistic virtuosity.