Hermann Zilcher (1881-1948)

Started by Gauk, Saturday 07 March 2015, 21:20

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eschiss1

I think aside from that early piano concerto, his wind quintet Op.91 has been recorded (on a CD released in 1999), and the score and parts of his C-sharp minor piano quintet Op.42 (recorded on the Largo label in 1999 along with a 1927 piano trio) are digitized online, as is the score (Canada-only for copyright reasons, I think, for now, until 2019) of the 1936 "Konzertstück über ein Thema von W. A. Mozart für Flöte und kleines Orchester" Op.81 for flute and orchestra (and a few other things...)

A late-1990s CD(?) "Hermann Zilcher - Komponistenportrait" (from the Gesellschaft) had the following items:
Blaserquintett "Vier Jahreszeiten" op.91. Vier Lieder aus "15 Lieder nach den Hey-Speckterschen Fabeln" Op. 37. "Klange der Nacht", 6 Klavierstücke op. 58. "Die Natur", Hymnus op. 47. Konzertstück fur Flote und kleines Orchester op. 81 (1936). "Du aber Herr bist unser Vater", Kantate op. 111.

The discography of Zilcher's music also includes a CD of some of his lieder on Oehms Classics and a disc of piano works on Largo Records (2001). There's an excerpt from the 3rd section? movement? of Op.81 at Soundcloud (linked to the Breitkopf.com page of the work.) Haven't heard them myself, but there is more out there than just these two concertos recorded, anycase- how much of the rest dates from 1933-1945 besides Op.81 and Op.91, couldn't tell you. (the cantata Op.111 I see from Oehms Classics' page for the lieder is one of two works - Op.112 = 5th symphony- he finished between mid-1945 (end of WW2) and his death in 1948.) Another work from his Op.90s was his Op.94 variations on a theme of Mozart for violin and accordeon, recorded on a 1974 LP.

Hrm, can add to that what looks like a very new CD (2015) of choral works of his...

jerfilm

Well, other things you can find include his Piano Concerto #1 in b, Piano Trio in e, Piano Quintet, Rameau Suite, and a trio for clarinet, piano and cello.  A good start at sampling.

J

Gauk

Clearly both Soviet and Nazi composers had political pressures to write in a conservative style. The main difference, perhaps, is that in Germany, composers who wanted more freedom of expression, and did not want to write only in a conservative/romantic idiom, generally emigrated in the course of the 1930s. Composers in the USSR did not have that option, so they were forced to toe the artistic line whether they liked it or not.

eschiss1

Not entirely true in either case, though perhaps in broad outlines.