Hans Winterberg (1901–91) : Piano Music
Volume One
Toccata Classics TOCC0531
Brigitte Helbig, piano

The tale of Hans Winterberg (1901–91) is a strange one.
A survivor of the Terezín concentration camp, where he had been interned as a Czech Jew, he settled in Munich after the Second World War as a German citizen, and his music enjoyed a number of broadcasts –
but with his death his estate disappeared into a legal limbo, emerging only in 2015.
This first album of his piano music reveals an unusual and individual voice, an idiosyncratic blend of Janáček, Ravel, Schoenberg and other mid-twentieth-century masters, animated by a hard-edged, freewheeling energy and grim humour reminiscent of his close contemporary, Nikos Skalkottas.

 

Sonata II (1941)

  1. I Agitato
  2. II Andante sostenuto
  3. III Molto vivace

Four Intermezzi (1929)

  1. No. 1 Breit
  2. No. 2 Leicht, flüchtig
  3. No. 3 Sehr langsam, verträumt
  4. No. 4 Wild, heftig

Suite Theresienstadt (1945)

  1. I Präludium
  2. II Intermezzo
  3. III Postludium

Suite for Piano (1955)

  1. I Vorspiel
  2. II Passacaglia
  3. III Marsch
  4. IV Bucolica
  5. V Toccata

Seven Neo-Impressionist Pieces in Twelve-Tone (1973)

  1. No. 1 Sehr schnell, leicht fliessend
  2. No. 2 Malinconia, molto moderato
  3. No. 3 Sehr bewegt
  4. No. 4 Vivacissimo
  5. No. 5 Impetuoso
  6. No. 6 Molto movimento
  7. No. 7 Molto vivace, alla toccata