Hans Winterberg (1901–91) : Piano Music Vol. 2
Toccata Classics TOCC069
Brigitte Helbig, piano
Release Date: 01.10.2021
Temps Total : 60:02
All except * First recordings






Toccata (1926)

Piano Sonata No. 1 (1936)*
I Agitato
II Adagio
III Molto vivace

Impressionistische Klavier-Suite (date unknown)
I Prestissimo leggiero molto
II Con moto (alla gondoliera)
III Vivacissimo

Suite for Piano (1956)
I Sehr schnelle Sechzehntel
II Mässige Achtel (gemächlich)
III Lebhaft
IV Lebhaft, energisch

Erinnerungen an Böhmen (‘Memories of Bohemia’, date unknown)
I Baumblüte im Elbtal
II Ein Sommertag am Hirschberger See
III Prag im Herbst
IV Winterwanderung

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 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 second 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.