Hanns Eisler - Music for Piano (Steffen Schleiermacher)

Information

Composer: Hanns Eisler

• Zweite Sonate für Klavier in Form von Variationen, Op. 6
• Thema aus 2. Sonate (Urfassung)
• Shimmy
• Klavierstücke, Op. 8
• Kleine Musik zum Abreagieren sentimentaler Stimmungen
• Sieben Klavierstücke, Op. 32
• Sonatine, Op. 44 "Gradus ad Parnassum"
• Cowboy Bauman fell off the Crazy Horse
• Variationen für Klavier
• Andantino

Steffen Schleiermacher, piano

Date: 2025

Label: Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm

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Description

This further edition to Steffen Schleiermacher's Eisler anthology once again provides insights into an exciting composer's life that still receives far too little attention today. With his differentiated palette of expression and affinity for nuance, Schleiermacher is a master interpreter of Eisler's original, often surprising aesthetics encompassing an extremely wide variety of musical styles.

Eisler could combine the transparently simple and the highly complicated with great craftsmanship and artistry, such as Second Sonata Op. 6 which parallels twelve-tone technique with sonata form."I'm bored with modern music, it doesn't interest me, I even hate and despise some of it. "wrote Eisler to his teacher Schoenberg. Shimmy is Eisler's ironic nod to the foxtrot, a popular dance in his day.

A Little Music for Dispelling Sentimental Moods exposes cliches in an extremely sparse two-part movement so they lose their sentimentality. Eisler believed such sentiments distracted from the class struggle. Whilst in exile, Eisler toured the United States with Mordechai Bauman. The singer's programme included Charles Ives's humorous ballad "Charlie Rutlage" about a cowboy meeting his death. Eisler's homage Cowboy Bauman fell off the Crazy Horse irritatingly ends with a repeat sign and the instruction: "ad infinitum". Strictly speaking, you have to play it for all eternity-which seems quite impractical, even for Schleiermacher.

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Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He studied in Vienna under Arnold Schoenberg, to whom he dedicated his early Piano Sonata. After moving to Berlin in 1925, he wrote for workers' movements and began a long collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Forced into exile in 1933, he lived across Europe before settling in the United States, where he composed chamber works, film scores and the Hollywood Songbook. Returning to Europe in 1948, he settled in East Berlin, and composed the national anthem of East Germany. The Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin is named after him.

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Steffen Schleiermacher (born 1960 in Halle) is a German pianist and composer. He studied piano, composition and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig, later refining his training in Berlin and Cologne. As a soloist, he has performed with major orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester and collaborated with prominent conductors. His extensive discography exceeds 80 recordings, including notable interpretations of contemporary repertoire. Schleiermacher also founded the Ensemble Avantgarde and has curated influential festivals and concert series.

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