Schelb: Chamber Works

Featuring

Bettina Beigelbeck
Bernhard Lörcher
Manfred Kratzer
Yasushi Ideue
Ayu Ideue
Wolfgang Wahl

Gabriela Bradley
Busch Kollegium Karlsruhe
Josef Schelb

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

The opening movement of Josef Schelb's Clarinet Quintet is entirely derived from a twelve-tone theme, a technique he used for most of his works from that period onwards.

Composition History

A bombing raid on Karlsruhe in September 1942 destroyed almost all of Josef Schelb's manuscripts, meaning nearly all his extant works date from after 1945.

Compositional Technique

Josef Schelb's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano balances 'German' thematic development with 'French' conciseness in ideas and a clear piano part that never overpowers the wind instrument.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Josef Schelb's Clarinet Quintet, written in 1954, can be seen as a creative reaction to Schoenberg's late 'American' style, adopting his compositional theory without merely copying his writing style.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in the Hans Rosbaud Studio at SWR, Baden-Baden, with different pieces recorded on four separate dates between September 2015 and October 2016.

Composer Biography

Josef Schelb, a composer and pianist from south-western Germany, belonged to the same generation as Frank Martin, Prokofiev, Honegger, Milhaud, and Hindemith.

Composer Biography

Josef Schelb's musical talent developed so rapidly that no suitable local teacher could be found for him in Freiburg, leading his parents to arrange regular lessons in Basel.