This first extended survey of the piano music of Ernst Krenek (1900-92) continues with a range of works showing his craftsmanship and imagination - and humor. The early Toccata and Chaconne, Op. 13, has it's origins in a joke intended to pull the legs of musicologists and music critics, but it develops into a massive contrapuntal essay of astonishing ambit. Krenek's treatment of Baroque and contemporary dances in the three early suites reveal a fondness for learned whimsy - and that wry dispassion informs even the elegiac and brittle Fifth Sonata, written a quarter-century later in American exile. The closing Sechs Vermessene are kaleidoscopic miniatures with an improvised quality, as if advanced musical modernism were meeting the freest of free jazz.

Tracklist:

Toccata Und Chaconne, Op. 13: I. Toccata
Toccata Und Chaconne, Op. 13: II. Chaconne
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: I. Allemande
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: II. Sarabande
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: III. Gavotte
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: IV. Waltzer
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: V. Fuge
Kleine Suite, Op. 13a: VI. Foxtrott
Piano Suite No. 1, Op. 26 No. 1: I. Andante
Piano Suite No. 1, Op. 26 No. 1: II. Andante Sostenuto
Piano Suite No. 1, Op. 26 No. 1: III. Allegretto
Piano Suite No. 1, Op. 26 No. 1: IV. Andante Sostenuto
Piano Suite No. 1, Op. 26 No. 1: V. Allegretto
Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 26 No. 2: I. Allegro Moderato
Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 26 No. 2: II. Andantino
Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 26 No. 2: III. Allegro Agitato
Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 26 No. 2: IV. Adagio
Piano Suite No. 2, Op. 26 No. 2: V. Allegretto
Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 121: I. Allegretto Con Grazia
Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 121: II. Andante Appassionato
Piano Sonata No. 5, Op. 121: III. Introduction
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 1, -
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 2, -
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 3, -
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 4, -
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 5, -
6 Vermessene, Op. 168: No. 6, -

UPC: 5060113443991
Label: Toccata
Release Date: 7.3.20
Format: CD

Krenek / Khristenko - Piano Music 2 (CD)