Arlen: Wien, du allein

Featuring

Daniel Wnukowski
Rebecca Nelsen
Walter Arlen

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Performer Biography

Rebecca Nelsen, the soprano, has also recorded Walter Arlen's songs on two previous Gramola CDs, "Es geht wohl anders" and "Die letzte Blaue."

Composer Biography

Walter Arlen, the composer, was born in 1920 and experienced his youth ending abruptly in Vienna with the political events of March 1938.

Performer Biography

Daniel Wnukowski, the pianist on this album, has previously recorded Walter Arlen's piano works on another Gramola album titled "Die letzte Blaue."

Composer Biography

Walter Arlen composed his last piece, "My Song," a cappella because he became legally blind from macular degeneration in 2001 and could no longer play the piano.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Arlen's music and psyche were shaped by his experience of being uprooted and becoming a "Wandering Jew," leading to an interest in diverse historical and exotic civilizations.

Composition History

The title of this album, "Wien, du allein," refers to a 1912 Wienerlied refrain, which Walter Arlen unconsciously incorporated into his composition Valse chimérique.

Compositional Technique

The composer's French Suite includes a movement, Cubist Still Life, whose dissonant sound structure is based on the letters of Georges Braque's name, reflecting Cubist abstraction.