Michael Rische pf WDR Sinfonieorchester / Israel Yinon (Concerto);Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Gerd Albrecht (Suite)

Hänssler Classic

In the 1920s, Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) was often considered alongside the likes of Webern and Bartók as a leading modernist. His star waned inevitably during the Nazi period and, like so many ‘degenerate’ composers, rediscovery came only in the 1980s and ’90s, though only a few works have maintained a fingerhold in the repertoire.

Schulhoff’s early Piano Concerto Op 11 (1913-4) – not to be confused with the better-known, more serious Op 43 of a decade later – shows off the composer’s innately exploratory side. Its youthful ebullience foreshadows Weimar irreverence, and its bright and brilliant demeanour is very infectious. The structure is unusual, with two large fast movements framing a much shorter slow movement. Rische and the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Israel Yinon make a fine case for it, not as a great work but highly engaging music.

The concert suite Der Bürger Als Edelmann (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, 1926) was recorded in 1999 and previously appeared on the Orfeo label. Scored for piano, winds and percussion, the version presented here has four movements, running to 23 minutes. Three additional movements have been omitted, but it is nonetheless engaging and seems complete in itself.