HK Gruber: Piano Concerto, Short Stories from the Vienna Woods, Castles in the Air

Featuring

Frank Dupree
HK Gruber
ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien

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Composer's Artistic Vision

HK Gruber, Kurt Schwertsik, and Otto M. Zykan founded the ensemble MOB art & tone ART to reconcile 'art for the people' (MOB art) with the aesthetic demands of 'art music' (tone ART).

Composition History

HK Gruber's international breakthrough came in 1978 with his work Frankenstein!! for chansonnier and orchestra, which became one of the most performed contemporary works of the late 20th century.

Composer Biography

As a ten-year-old, HK Gruber was admitted to the Vienna Boys' Choir, where he received the nickname 'Nali' and gained self-confidence and worldliness through concert tours.

Composition History

The Piano Concerto was commissioned by the New York, Stockholm, and Berlin Philharmonics, and Tonhalle Zurich, and is intimately linked to Gruber's opera Tales from the Vienna Woods.

Performer Biography

Frank Dupree, the pianist on this recording, is a winner of the International Classical Music Award and the Opus Klassik, known for his versatility as a soloist, conductor, and jazz pianist.

Critical Reception

Following the premiere of Frankenstein!!, a critic summarized its impact by stating, 'Gruber has brought sunshine back into New Music.'

Composer Biography

HK Gruber, born in 1943 in Vienna, grew up in a music-loving household and attended countless repertoire performances at the Theater an der Wien with his policeman father.