JOSEF MATTHIAS HAUER (1883-1959): 9 Etudes, Op. 22.

Description: As in his slightly earlier Op. 20, Atonale Musik, Hauer's pianist has quite a lot to say about dynamics and tempo since only the tones themselves are notated in these etudes which were dedicated to Schoenberg on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1923. These pieces do not sound like Schoenberg's twelve-tone music. They often sound tonal, if unstably so. They are detached, simple, clear and transparent, with meandering melodies which repeat once and then exhaust themselves in figured harmonies. Although they sometimes sound "expressionist", in general all emotion is alien to these chilly, yet oddly compelling excercises. Steffen Schleiermacher (piano).