Tanz grotesk - Schreker - Schulhoff - Hindemith ("Entartete Musik")

This collection is from London's "Degenerate Music" series, works by composers attacked or suppressed by the Nazis. Schreker's score for The Birthday of the Infanta, based on a story by Oscar Wilde, is in his typically lush late Romantic style. Some listeners love this music, while others get seasick. Schulhoff's Moonstruck is a relatively brief dance piece, full of Schulhoff's beloved jazz and immediately striking. Hindemith's The Demon, typical of his acerbic early style, is a challenging and eventually rewarding piece, previously recorded a couple of times. It's a luxury to have one of the world's great orchestras playing this obscure, fascinating program for us; the conductor does well with everything but particularly with Schreker's decadence. --Leslie Gerber

This amazing idea is an act of artistic justice - to say at least - about a set of recordings destroyed or banned by the political disruptions of the twentieth century and most specifically by the Third Reich. Besides, it's also a representation of musical evolution, trends that never reached plain maturity. But also, it concerns with the music of exile: the inward response to a different world after such the well reminded bloody and devastating WW1.

The first work presented here is the marvelous composition of Franz Schreker "The birthday of the Infanta" , an innovative ballet based on an Oscar Wilde's play.

The second work belongs to Erwin Schulhoff labeled "Moonstruck", a prodigious composer who barely lived 48 years (died of tuberculosis in 1942). The seeds of the diverse influences by then, blend the rag, jazz and the presence of the tango take place all along this interesting orchestral suite.

Finally we have Paul Hindemith with "The demons" , a work that undoubtedly has had major luck than its predecessors.

On the other hand, the presence of Lothar Zagrossek in the baton conducting the renowned Gewandhaus orchestra of Leizpig, has been a colossal finding. The members of this prestigious Orchestra display all the gamut of eloquent expressiveness and vibrant rhythm the works demand.

A magnificent finding and hoping the harbingers of such innovative and challenging project undertake that required mission in order to preserve and bring it us back the necessary space in those times of first rate technology.


Tracklist:

Der Geburtstag der Infantin = The Birthday Of The Infanta (19:40)
1 Reigen 1:48
2 Aufzug Und Kampfspiel 2:19
3 Die Marionetten 2:40
4 Menuett Der Tänzerknaben – Die Tänze Des Zwerges 2:51
5 Mit Dem Wind Im Frühling: In Blauen Sandalen Über Das Korn – Im Roten Gewand Im Herbst 5:02
6 Die Rose Der Infantin – Nachklang 4:58

Die Mondsüchtige = Moonstruck (23:49)
7 Introduzione – Ragtime 5:14
8 Valse Boston 6:31
9 Shimmy 2:32
10 Step 1:40
11 Tango 5:07
12 Jazz 2:46

Der Dämon = The Demon, Op.28 (34:28)
13 Tanz Des Dämons 1:16
14 Tanz Der Bunten Bänder – Tanz Der Geängstigten Schwalben 5:51
15 Tanz Des Giftes – Tanz Der Schmerzen 4:08
16 Tanz Des Dämons (Passacaglia) – Tanz Der Trauer Und Sehnsucht 5:54
17 Einleitung Zum 2. Bild – Tanz Des Kindes 3:36
18 Tanz Des Weiten Gewandes – Tanz Der Geschlossenen Orchidee 6:51
19 Tanz Der Roten Raserei – Tanz Der Brutalität 2:17
20 Tanz Des Geschlagenen Tieres – Finale

Tanz grotesk - Schreker - Schulhoff - Hindemith ("Entartete Musik")
(320 kbps, cover art included)