Piano Works by Israeli Composers

Featuring

Kolja Lessing
Joachim Stutschewsky
Sergiu Natra
Tzvi Avni
Ödön Pártos
Mordecai Seter

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Composer's Artistic Vision

The geographically widespread Jewish folk music served as a significant source of inspiration for the emerging Israeli music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ödön Pártos, a Hungarian-Israeli composer and violist, believed that while Bartók was great, Schoenberg's twelve-tone method offered more diverse paths for composers.

Composer Biography

Tzvi Avni, born Hermann Jakob Steinke in Germany, fled to Palestine in 1935 and witnessed and helped shape Israel's musical life from its inception.

Composer Biography

Joachim Stutschewsky, born into a Ukrainian klezmer family, was an excellent cellist who played in the famous Vienna String Quartet and actively promoted Jewish music.

Performer Biography

Kolja Lessing, the pianist on this album, is a versatile musician known for rediscovering significant works from the Baroque to modern eras and advocating for ostracized composers.

Historical Context

The music in the young state of Israel, which gained independence in 1948, was shaped by a return to ancient Jewish singing traditions and the pursuit of national identity.

Cultural Impact

Max Brod, a writer and composer known for his work with Kafka and Janáček, identified ancient musical formulas from scripture readings as a 'fountain of youth' for Israeli music.