Reiner's music exudes a joy of experimentation, virtuosity, and expressiveness. Even as a young man, he combined dance rhythms, jazzy echoes, and modal musical language with avant-garde ideas, influenced by his teachers Alois Hába and Josef Suk. His three piano sonatas, from the athematic-atonal No. 1 (1931) to the expressive “Victory Sonata” No. 2 (1940) to the politically engaged No. 3 (1961), are milestones of Czech modernism. In between, he composed humorous miniatures such as Minda-Minda, demanding cycles such as the Three Compositions (1965), and late pieces such as the radically modern Keime (1974).
Reiner's biography is inextricably linked to the history of the 20th century: as a Jew banned from performing in the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia,” he survived deportation, Auschwitz, and the death march. After 1945, he shaped the musical life of Czechoslovakia, but after the “Prague Spring” he came under the scrutiny of censorship. Despite performance bans, he remained artistically unbroken until the end.
This complete recording is not only a rediscovery, but also a tribute to an exceptional musician who always demanded everything from his instrument – technically, tonally, emotionally. The spectrum ranges from sharp-edged avant-garde to subtle sound painting, from playful wit to deep seriousness. Those who immerse themselves in Reiner's sound worlds will discover a composer who was often ahead of his time – and whose music sounds more relevant today than ever before.
Programme
Karel Reiner (1910–1979)
Complete Works for Solo Piano
CD 1
60:44
[01–09] 9 veselých Improvizací [9 Amusing Improvisations] (1928) *
[10–36] 27 malých Invencí pro klavír [27 Little Inventions for Piano] (1929) *
[37–41] 5 Jazzových studií [5 Jazz Studies] (1930) *
[42–44] 1. Sonáta pro klavír op. 10 [1st Piano Sonata] (1931)
[45–56] “dvanáct” – malá zábavní hudba ["twelve" - a little funny music] (1931) *
[57–63] Minda-Minda: Sedm skladeb pro děti op. 31 [Minda-Minda: 7 Pieces for Children] (1937) *
CD 2
63:36
[01–04] 2. Sonáta pro klavír “Vítězstvi” op. 35 [2nd Piano Sonata "Victory"] (1942) *
[05–07] 3. Sonáta pro klavír [3rd Piano Sonata] (1961)
[08–10] Tři skladby pro klavír [Three Compositions for Piano] (1965)
[11–18] Zárodky pro klavír [Germs for Piano] (1974)
Moritz Ernst, piano
* First recordings
Biographies
Karel Reiner, born June 27, 1910, in Žatec (Saaz), died October 17, 1979, in Prague. One of the few Czech Jewish artists to survive imprisonment in several Nazi concentration and labor camps, composer and pianist Karel Reiner was able to resume his artistic activities in Czechoslovakia after liberation. After the violent suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 and the resulting political consequences, Karel Reiner was forced to resign from his public offices, and performances of his works became virtually impossible. Until his death in 1979, Karel Reiner remained a critical and self-critical artist who knew how to express his views through music. Throughout his life, his style was characterized by tremendous versatility, ranging in the early phase of his career from playful twelve-tone and experimental sound studies to Alois Hába's “athematic composition method” and late Romantic-style tone paintings. Due to the double suppression of his works, he and his extraordinary oeuvre, which comprises almost 300 works of all genres, are only gradually coming back into the public consciousness.
Pianist Moritz Ernst (*1986) devotes a large part of his concert activities to contemporary and suppressed music of the 20th and 21st centuries. After studying in Detmold, London, and Basel, he quickly gained significant recognition both on the concert stage and through his CD recordings, particularly through his commitment to contemporary music and ostracized music. He works with leading contemporary composers such as Sandeep Bhagwati, Wolfgang Rihm, and Raymond Deane. His recordings include the complete piano works of Viktor Ullmann, Norbert von Hannenheim, Arthur Lourié, Hans Erich Apostel, and Karel Reiner, as well as works by Walter Braunfels, Joseph Haydn, and the Irish-American composer Swan Hennessy. He performs with major orchestras such as the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the German Radio Philharmonic, as well as with leading conductors such as Mario Venzago, Stephan Blunier, and Gabriel Feltz. Moritz Ernst is an editor for publishers such as Schott Music and Boosey & Hawkes.
More information
Catalogue number: NEOS 12523-24
EAN: 4260063125232
