Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 37
Sonata for Solo Violin No. 3, Op. 126
Violin Sonata No. 6, Op. 136bis

With this release of Volume 3, violinist Yuri Kalnits and pianist Michael Csányi-Wills are well on their way to completing their four volume traversal of all of the Violin Sonatas by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996). Previous releases of Volume 1 and Volume 2 were each awarded the coveted Diapason D'or award, and it's easy to understand why. These two musicians are completely copacetic to Weinberg's aesthesics, and respond to his music with alacrity and a profound understanding of its raison d'être. Despite the music's slightly "Jewish folklore" outer layers, at its core lies a grim and dispirited view of Soviet life. Weinberg was a Polish resident who fled to the Soviet Union during the war to escape Nazi internment. His Violin Sonata No. 6 was dedicated to his mother who died, along with other family members, in one of the concentration camps. The way Yuri Kalnits digs into the icy cold high register notes following the long and steady ascent which opens the first movement is very effective, and so is the utter sense of desolation they both convey at the conclusion of the final movement.

Just like Prokofiev, Mieczyslaw Weinberg's style was marked by the use of distinctive harmonic intervals all his own which defined his sound, and is highly apparent in the Violin Sonata No. 3. And here both Kalnits and Csányi-Wills reveal their affinity for this music in how well they work together to capture and communicate the composer's expressive details. Unlike a Mozart sonata for example, there's more than just music notation within Weinberg's scores, and only musicians of this calibre can fully convey a composer's deepest intent. Listen to the final few minutes of this sonata and how acute their perception of its significance is, and how a few notes on a page can move the soul, and you will know what I mean. Below is a short audio clip of its opening movement.