Polish-born Mieczysław Weinberg twice escaped from Nazi invasions, finally settling in Moscow, where for more than 30 years he was Shostakovich’s closest musical friend. Composer of 26 symphonies, seventeen string quartets and seven operas, he was also a master of the solo string sonata, a genre not touched by Shostakovich and little cultivated in the Soviet Union. His four sonatas for cello solo were composed between 1960 and 1985 and enshrine some of his most concentrated and poetic inspirations.

Gidon Kremer and Mario Brunello pay tribute to Beethoven by presenting two of his most famous quartets in a version for string orchestra played by Kremerata Baltica. The ensemble's founder Gidon Kremer directs op.131 from the violin, while Mario Brunello conducts op.135 and adds two contemporary pieces, one by Léo Ferré, the revolutionary, anarchic, inspired singer-songwriter and great lover of Beethoven : Muss es sein? Es muss sein!