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Special offer. Gesänge Des Orients

Songs of the Orient

Simon Wallfisch & Edward Rushton, Edward Rushton, Simon Wallfisch

Gesänge Des Orients

Awards:

This fascinating programme of early twentieth-century songs (many of them by composers condemned as purveyors of ‘degenerate’ music by the Nazis) struck me as a sort of alternative Das Lied...

Special offer. Gesänge Des Orients

Songs of the Orient

Simon Wallfisch & Edward Rushton, Edward Rushton, Simon Wallfisch

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CD

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44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

Original price ($13.00) Reduced price $9.00

320 kbps, MP3

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This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit

Awards:

This fascinating programme of early twentieth-century songs (many of them by composers condemned as purveyors of ‘degenerate’ music by the Nazis) struck me as a sort of alternative Das Lied...

About

Orientalism also increasingly caught the popular imag ination through clothes, décor and furnishings. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, preoccupations with the exotic noticeably shifted eastwards from Germany to Austria. Given the febrile artistic climate in the turn- of-the-century Vienna, it is hardly surprising that composers living and working there also succumbed to the fashion for Orientalism. [Erik Levi] Supressed music (or ‘Entartete Musik’ or ‘Verfemte Musik’), music and musicians smeared by the Nazis’ dark, ideologica lly-motivated hatred, has developed into an artificial genre of its own, throwing together composers of completely different musical backgrounds and, it must be said, varying degrees of quality, into the same bucket. This must change. We risk missing the true qualities, nuances and pedigree of individual composers’ voices, as well as the cultural preoccupations that united them (as in the case of this CD, the common fascination in the early twentieth century with translations of Chinese and Persian poetry). The deliberate inclusion of Richard Strauss (whose political allegiances are questionable), is because I wish the listener to hear beyond the names, beyond the painful historical facts and savour the incredible sound world created by these musical cousins. It is my wish that, by presenting all of these neglected composers as equals, we can begin to restore them to their rightful place, where they belonged all along , in our collective musical Consciousness.

Contents and tracklist

I. Wahrlich, du bist ein kecker Dieb - II. Wenn mein heisses Herz - III. Ich Unglückseliger - IV. Fort ist die Sonne
Track length4:55
V. Nichtswürdig bist du - VI. Jawohl, man nahe andachtsvoll - VII. Das sind die Kostbarkeiten dieser Erde - VIII. Die Tulpen heben ihre Kelche
Track length3:51
I. Zaslech jsem divoké husy - II. V bambusovém háji
Track length4:47
III. Daleko měsíc je od domova - IV. Probděná noc
Track length8:47

Awards and reviews

  • Presto Editor's Choice
    July 2018

July 2018

This fascinating programme of early twentieth-century songs (many of them by composers condemned as purveyors of ‘degenerate’ music by the Nazis) struck me as a sort of alternative Das Lied von der Erde due to the explorations of loneliness, intoxication and alienation and the settings of Chinese (and occasional Persian) poetry. The irreverent cabaret numbers in Viktor Ullmann’s Liederbuch der Hafis are great fun, but the searing songs of exile by Pavel Haas and Gottfried von Einem linger longest in the memory.
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