Piano Works by Israeli Composers

JOACHIM STUTSCHEWSKY (1891-1982): Palestinian Sketches, 3 Pieces, SERGIU NATRA (b.1924): Variations, Sonatina, ÖDÖN PÁRTOS (1907-1977): Prelude, TZVI AVNI (b.1927): Capriccio, In Spite of All That, Dedication, MORDECAI SETER (1916-1994): Triptyque II.

Description: Reflection on the thousands of years of the Jewish song tradition and the effort to develop a national identity marked the genesis of music in the new state of Israel. The development of an Israeli music world in the sense of European institutionalization was first made possible by exile and the unbroken pioneering spirit of many outstanding musical personalities in the 1930s. From the folksong basis of Stutschewski’s Palestinian Sketches of 1931 to Partos’ dodecaphonic prelude from 1960, to Seter’s later music of the 1980s in which time and space are, in Triptyque II, treated in a manner that points to a spiritual kinship with similar radically formulated works of withdrawal in late Liszt, Alkan, Busoni and Dukas, this well-filled release offers an example of the wide stylistic range of first generation Israeli composers. Kolja Lessing (piano).