Kletzki: Piano Concerto

Featuring

Thomas Sanderling
Joseph Banowetz
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Paul Kletzki

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

The works on this album, including the Piano Concerto and Fantasie, are described as 'super-complex tonality,' generating highly complicated harmonic-contrapuntal textures that push performers to their limits.

Composer Biography

Paul Kletzki, born in 1900, became famous as a conductor after World War II, but was primarily active as a composer from 1921 to 1942.

Composer Biography

Wilhelm Furtwängler, a renowned German conductor, treated Kletzki 'like a son' and recommended his music for publication, even choosing him as a principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1932.

Recording & Production

The current edition of Kletzki's Piano Concerto features a new orchestration by John Norine, Jr. as part of the Lost Composer's Project, an initiative dedicated to bringing suppressed works from the Second World War era to light.

Historical Context

Due to the racial policies of the new regime in 1933, Paul Kletzki, who was Jewish, was prevented from conducting and publishing his music in Germany.

Historical Context

Kletzki ceased composing after 1942, explaining that the shock of 'Hitlerism' destroyed his spirit and will to compose.

Composition History

The Piano Concerto, Op. 22, was published in a two-piano arrangement in 1930 and premiered in 1932, but the full score was presumably destroyed by Breitkopf during the Hitler regime.