Hanns Eisler - Septett Nr. 2, Nonett Nr. 1 & 2 (Nova, 1973)

Hanns Eisler died 60 years ago, September 6, 1962. Thanks a lot for all the inspriring music!

As a Schoenberg pupil, political musician, peripatetic travellerand emigrant, musical and administrative visionary, and Brecht‟s closest musical collaborator, Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) inhabited many worlds. As a composer, he constantly sought to bridge the gaps between popular and “classical,” between the street and the concert hall, and between music for the masses and music for private, individual experience. He accompanied his prolific musical output with a steady of stream of writings and interviews characterized by the same sharp wit and dialectical thinking found in his music. 

For Eisler, a committed Marxist, these different spheres were all part of the same conceptual universe, and sprang from his lifelong aim to create music useful to Socialism. Any composer, he believed, should be able to compose a marching song for a political demonstration, easy piano pieces for children, music for a Hollywood film, a large-scale symphony for chorus and orchestra, a lyrical song cycle, or a string quartet, depending on need and circumstances.

Eisler´s deportation from the U.S. after hearings before the House Committee on Un-American Activities as well as his status as East Germany‟s leading composer have colored his reception in western countries. Although Eisler has received increasing attention in recent years, his output of 15 orchestra works, 50 choruses, 23 chamber music works, 20 cantatas, c. 250 Lieder, 37 stage works und 39 film scores was largely neglected in the West during the Cold War, when the composer was known primarily as the composer of the East German naional anthem, “Auferstanden aus Ruinen.”


Tracklist:

Septett Nr. 2 "Zirkus", aufgenommen 1965
Nonett Nr. 1 , aufgenommen 1967
Nonett Nr. 2, Suite für neun Instrumente, aufgenommen 1967

Hanns Eisler - Septett Nr. 2, Nonett Nr. 1 & 2 (Nova, 1973)

(256 kbps, cover art included)