STEFAN WOLPE (1902-1972): Zemach Suite, PHILIPP HERSCOVICI (1906-1989): Frühlingsblumen, 3 Klavierstücke, LEOPOLD SPINNER (1906-1980): Sonata, Op. 3, ARNOLD ELSTON (1907-1971): Rondo, FRÉ FOCKE (1910-1989): Tombeau de Vincent van Gogh, ROLAND LEICH (1911-1995): Pastorale, HUMPHREY SEARLE (1915-1982): Threnos and Toccata, Op. 14, ANTON WEBERN (1883-1945): Variations, Op. 27.

Description: This is the first of a series (unaccountably issued in Europe in 2005 but just appearing here now) entitled "The Viennese School. Teachers and Followers." This one is devoted to students (for anywhere from weeks, like Wolpe, to years, like Elston) of Webern, whose compositions here date from 1937, the year after Webern's Variations, to around 1960. Most of these composers will not be found in current encyclopedias, two are American (Elston and Leich), one a Romanian Jew who fled the Nazis and ended up influencing generations of avant-garde Soviet composers and one Dutch (Focke) who spent a decade in Chile founding various musical institutions. They are plainly Webern students but vary greatly in their own applications of their teacher's twelve-tone style. A must-have for collectors of the Second Viennese School or of 20th century piano composition in general. Steffen Schleiermacher (piano).