Composer: Heinz Tiessen
Performer: Matthew Rubenstein
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0291
Release: 2015
Size: 180 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Eine Natur – Trilogie, Op. 18
01. I. Einsamkeit (Auf dem Gipfel der Toten Düne)
02. II. Barcarole (Am Kurischen Haff)
03. III. Notturno tempestoso (Nacht am Meere)
2 Phantasiestücke, Op. 26
04. No. 1, Erinnerung
05. No. 2, Florestan
6 Klavierstücke, Op. 37
06. No. 1, Allegro
07. No. 2, Adagio
08. No. 3, Fughetta
09. No. 4, Scherzino
10. No. 5, Improvisation
11. No. 6, Foxtrott
5 Klavierstücke, Op. 52
12. No. 1, Improvisation
13. No. 2, Zueignung
14. No. 3, Scherzino fugato
15. No. 4, Notturno
16. No. 5, Allegro ritmico
3 Tanzcapricen, Op. 61
17. No. 1, Tanz bei Amsels
18. No. 2, Papillon
19. No. 3, Foxtrott
20. Entartetes Weihnachtslied
Heinz Tiessen (1887–1971) was one of the most prominent composers of the Weimar Republic, but his music has largely been lost from sight.
This first-ever survey of his most important piano works include Eine Natur-Trilogie, a substantial three-part symphonic poem for piano, and a number of shorter works. Together these pieces show Tiessen’s ability to combine a variety of styles – neo-Baroque counterpoint, Straussian textural opulence, Schoenbergian expressionism and Hindemithian clarity – in a personal language that is generous in its gestures and direct in its appeal.
This release shows that it was not only Jewish composers whose careers were shattered by Hitler’s rise to power: although Tiessen was not officially blacklisted, his music was sidelined and after WW2 his music was rarely performed, and so he slipped into obscurity.
Matthew Rubenstein has performed as soloist and chamber musician on four continents. The German magazine Piano News wrote of his playing: ‘With virtuosity and sensitivity, Rubenstein gives life to every note; his playing expresses a profound understanding of contemporary music’. In 1993 he Matthew Rubenstein won the Artists International Debut competition in New York City. After concert appearance in North and South America, in 1999 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Berlin, where he now lives and performs regularly.