SKU: HL.48025367

UPC: 196288194286.

Simon Laks (1901-1983), who moved from Warsaw to Paris in 1926 at the age of 25, belonged to the large group of composers from Central and Eastern European countries who went down in 20th-century music history as the “École de Paris”. Slavic temperament amalgamated in their music with French esprit, the folklore of their native countries combined with the stylistic elements of neoclassicism and jazz typical of the time. As a member of the “Association of Young Polish Musicians”, Laks quickly made his way into French musical life. However, his career was ended with the beginning of World War 2 due to the collaboration of the Vichy government with Nazi Germany. Internment in 1941 was followed by deportation to Auschwitz in 1942. Laks survived the Shoah as a member and later leader of a camp band in Birkenau, which he testified to in his moving book Music in Auschwitz. After the traumatic experiences, Laks did not return to regular compositional activity until the 1960s, producing an opera, songs, and chamber music works, some of which were awarded important composition prizes. At the peak of this optimistic creative phase, he composed incidental music for Peretz Hirschbein's famous Yiddish comedy Dem Schmids Techter (The Blacksmith's Daughters), which premiered in New York in 1918, for a new production of the play at the Théâtre de'l’Entrepôt in Paris. Along with Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes and Shostakovich's cycle From Yiddish (Jewish) Folk Poetry, it is one of the most significant 20th-century explorations of art music with Jewish folklore – homage to a culture irreparably destroyed. From the original score, Holger Groschopp compiled two suites, for violoncello and piano and piano solo, that capture the essence of Lak's enchanting drama music. The premiere recording of the suites with Holger Groschopp and Adele Bitter was awarded the Opus Klassik 2023 in the category Editorial Achievement of the Year.

SKU: BR.EB-32083

With supplementary violoncello part marked by Maria Kliegel

ISBN 9790004186299. 9 x 12 inches.

There are many composers about whom it is believed, today, that they composed conservatively, or against the taste of their time. The question is also raised, today, which extract of this large amount of effective and high-quality music, unknown for the most part, should receive our attention; which of it is worth rediscovering or re-editing. Camillo Schumann is one of the most important representatives of these composers, but his works are still largely unknown today. He was born on 10 March 1872 in Konigstein, Saxony. His musical language combines the sound world of Brahms with the grand, late-romantic Liszt School. He wrote piano parts of incredible power and virtuosity, approaching the sounds of Rachmaninoff. His wonderfully individual melodic language makes these works a valuable testimony to a composer who never had his due recognition. The cello sonatas Opp. 59 (EB 32082) and 99 (EB 32083) are the first of three works for this combination. Op. 59 was composed around 1905/06, Op. 99 followed in 1932. Nothing is known so far of the circumstances of the composition of this work, including for whom it was composed. However, it is quite evident that Schumann wrote it, like most of his works, primarily for his own concerts and befriended musicians. The extensive entries in the piano part bear witness to a considerably practical approach. Crossed-out bars, notes added or crossed out in chords as well as a number of revisions of other kinds are more the rule than the exception. The composer's own fingerings written in the piano part also underline this assumption. The present edition contains two solo-parts each. One clean Urtext-part free of any additions from the editor and a second one with bowing marks and fingerings by Maria Kliegel who recorded both sonatas for the first time with the label Naxos. Both sonatas show evident resemblance to the works of this combination by Johannes Brahms and are therefore a must have for ambitious cellists.

With supplementary violoncello part marked by Maria Kliegel.