Zemlinsky: A Ray of Light: Complete Piano Music

Torquati, Emanuele

95067

A friend of Brahms and teacher of Schoenberg, Alexander Zemlinsky was a composer who straddled the divide of the 20th century, signalling the end of the Romantic period and the beginning of a marked upswing in experimentation. For the ost part, however, the piano music on this disc is still firmly in the tradition of the great Romantic composers, composed as it was early on in his career. The Ländliche Tänze, or ‘Rustic Dances’, are a collection of light, pastoral dances, with nods to Schumann and Brahms. More melancholy and mournful are the Balladen (‘Ballades’) and Erinnerungen aus Wien (‘Memory of Vienna’), the latter referencing Wagner in its use of the ‘Tristan’ chord; these are works filled with the emotion and sensitivity one would expect from the tail end of this dramatic period, hinting at the developments that were to mark the following century.

Works:
• Zemlinsky: Albumblatt
• Zemlinsky: Ein Lichtstrahl
• Zemlinsky: Fantasies from a poem by Richard Dehmel for piano Op. 9
• Zemlinsky: Landliche Tanze for piano Op. 1
• Zemlinsky: Menuett (from Das gläserne Herz)
• Zemlinsky: Vier Balladen

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Brilliant Classics

13-11-2019

5028421950679