SKU: HL.49046190

UPC: 841886033825. 9.0x12.0x0.064 inches.

Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2012) numbers among the most prominent pianists of the 20th Century. That he was also a composer is less well known, though he wrote a whole series of works, notably for his own instrument, the piano (Piano Works, Schott ED 22923). His Romance for violin and piano may be considered something of a rarity. Musical child prodigy Alexis wrote this little Romantic piece in March 1943 in Jerusalem, where he and his mother had fled from Sofia following their internment as descendants of Jews. The Romance is a melancholy 'Song Without Words', simple and poignant in effect. This first edition is based on the original manuscript. Editorial changes have been marked in brackets.

SKU: HL.48025445

ISBN 9783793145820. UPC: 196288216438.

Hans Winterberg's extraordinary life was written in two chapters, one Czech and one German, split right down the middle by the experience of the Shoah, which Winterberg, unlike his colleagues Ullmann, Krása, Haas and Klein, miraculously survived. In 1947, the Prague-born composer moved to Munich, where he worked for the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation. As a student of Alexander Zemlinsky and Alois Hába, he belongs both to the Czech tradition following Janácek and to the circle of the Second Viennese School. He saw himself as a bridge builder between Western and Eastern culture. The circumstances under which Winterberg was able to compose during the war years are still unclear. Although his “mixed marriage” initially saved him from deportation, he had to perform forced labour and was eventually sent to the Terezin ghetto in January 1945. The Suite for Violin and Piano was composed in 1942, the year in which both Winterberg's mother and his piano professor Thérèse Wallerstein were murdered by the Nazis. Compared to the violin sonata from 1936, the Suite is much more condensed, lasting less than seven minutes. A melody dominated by chromatic turns and expressionist harmony lend the work its melancholy character, which gives way, however, to an almost irrepressible defiance in the rhythmically percussive last movement.