Composer: Hans Brehme, Ernst-Lothar von Knorr
Performer: Helmut C. Jacobs
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Es-Dur
Catalogue: ES2065
Release: 2016
Size: 652 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Brehme: Herbst-Elegi
Brehme: Herbst-Elegie und Capriccio in Op. 57
02. Capriccio
Brehme: Divertimento in F Major, Op. 59
03. I. Serenata
04. II. Intermezzo ostinato
05. III. Presto
Brehme: Suite in Op. 40
06. I. Präludium
07. II. Walzer – Scherzo
08. III. Elegisches pastorale
09. IV. Rondino alla burla
Knorr: Suite
10. I. Invention
11. II. Marsch
12. III. Lied
13. IV. Capriccio
14. V. Finale
Knorr: Sonata in C Major
15. I. Allegro moderato
16. II. Largo. Basso ostinato
17. III. Rondo scherzando
Accordion works by German composers Ernst-Lothar von Knorr and Hans Brehme, several of them premiere recordings, are performed by the noted exponent of the instrument, Helmut C Jacobs on his sixth recording for the ES-Dur/Charade label.
The music professors and composers Ernst-Lothar von Knorr (1896-1973) and Hans Brehme (1904-1957) met at Trossingen in 1943, as a consequence of their respective music colleges being relocated there because of World War II. The accordion maker Ernst Hohner (1886-1965) was based in Trossingen, and it was thanks to him that both composers wrote pieces for the accordion – which had a major influence on the subsequent development of the instrument.
The album opens with Spring Elegy and Capriccio op. 57 by Hans Brehme, a commission for the compulsory piece for an international competition in 1953. It’s followed by the three-movement Divertimento in F composed in 1956 and the Suite op. 40, Brehme’s first piece for accordion, dating from 1945, and recorded for the first time here. The Sonata in C (1949) by Ernst-Lothar von Knorr was the first sonata ever written for the accordion. Both it and von Knorr’s Suite of 1945 receive their premiere recordings.
Helmut C Jacobs studied with the accordion player Guido Wagner and has won many prizes at national and international competitions. He has been Professor of Romance Philology/Literature at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 1997. His previous recordings on ES-Dur range from 18th century boleros and fandangos (whose “lascivious gestures” led to Casanova’s view that “I could not conceive a woman refusing her partner anything after this dance”) to 20th century pieces by Wolfgang Jacobi and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.