Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Eric Zeisl - Kleine Sinfonie nach Bildern der Roswitha Bitterlich - November: Six Sketches for Chamber Orchestra - Concerto Grosso for Cello and Orchestra - UCLA Philharmonia, Neal Stulberg - Antonio Lysy, Cello - Yarlung Records 2013

Eric Zeisl (1905-1959) was a remarkably talented composer active during the first half of the 20th century, and always with an original voice. His music offers a compelling fusion of Viennese, Slavic, and Hebraic stylistic elements, and he is often mentioned alongside other "Jewish composers" such as the great Ernst Bloch, Joseph Achron, Paul Ben-haim, Hans Krasa, Viktor Ullmann, and many others. 

This was/is my personal "recording of 2013" so to speak, and it's an extremely important release that helps to paint a richer portrait of this fascinating man. All three works presented here are absolute knockouts.







Eric Zeisl was born in Vienna on May 8th, 1905. From childhood, he demonstrated an unshakable resolve to compose. Against strong family resistance, he entered the Vienna State Academy at age fourteen. Two years later, his first publication appeared, a set of songs. Despite acclaim as one of Austria's brightest young compositional lights, Zeisl eventually fell victim to Europe's gathering political storm. In November of 1938, he fled Vienna for Paris and temporary refuge, but it was only upon reaching in September 1939 that he found permanent sanctuary. Against formidable odds, he achieved recognition in his adopted land, with praise for his work coming from fellow composers Korngold, Milhaud, Stravinsky, and Toch among others. Then, on February 18th 1959, at the age of 53 and at the height of his creative powers, Eric Zeisl suffered a heart attack after teaching an evening class at Los Angeles City College. He died that night.

Unhappy early years, heredity, and environment united to shape the young Zeisl's creative personality. Drawing from the vitality of Slavic peasantry and the spirituality of the synagogue, he evolved a style notable for expressive melody, rich harmonies, strong dance-derived rhythms, and as you shall hear imaginative scoring.   

The booklet notes are superb, and especially interesting is the information concerning Zeisl's inspiration to compose "Kleine Sinfonie nach Bildern der Roswitha Bitterlich" (Little Symphony after Pictures of Roswitha Bitterlich) after viewing an exhibition of paintings by a fourteen year old girl. 

Enjoy everyone!!

Zeisl_Little_Symphony_November_Sketches_Concerto Grosso-Tzadik.zip

http://www39.zippyshare.com/v/wxuAJdPq/file.html

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Delirante,glorioso cuadro del violinista,super cd,gracias Tzadik,por cierto,conozco el PianoConcerto de Zeisl,un cd cpo,clonado de algun blog,no recuerdo de dónde...gracias por estas joyas,un abrazo cetáceo de Tapirman!!!!

cjvinthechair said...

Ah, yes, Mr. T - certainly concur about this composer.
Put on his Requiem Ebraico while writing...forgotten how attractive it is !
Thanks for reminder - just isn't possible to keep 'up to speed' with all the lovely music out there;some always gets neglected. Hey, but we'll keep trying, eh ?!

AT said...

Many thanks and regards from The Netherlands.
Veel dank en groeten uit Nederland.

Robert said...

Track 4 no está presente en la descarga! Por favor, corrija!

Tzadik said...

Saludos querido doctor T! Estoy feliz como este disco, que no podía esperar para comprarlo habiendo oído de su lanzamiento. Yo ya sabía que me esperaba algo especial, y la revisión del gramófono en el momento estaba tan entusiasmado como yo. -Así Que ya tiene
el cd CPO con el Concierto para piano? Yo no sé que ha sido publicado en otro blog. Voy a publicar de todos modos ..

Su TZ

Tzadik said...

Cjv, wow I haven't heard the Requiem in quite a while myself! Now I will have to spend an hour digging, ugh. But how worth it :)

TZ

Tzadik said...

You are welcome Toon!

TZ

Tzadik said...

Robert, voy a echar un vistazo-zippy es muy lento en este momento, es de 50 minutos a download mi post (!)
Una vez que las cosas son a la velocidad añadiré pista 4 si es necesario.

TZ

Tzadik said...

Anyone else find that track 4 is missing from the file? I know it should be there

Thanks

TZ

Tzadik said...

Hola Robert, Acabo de comprobar y realizar un seguimiento de cuatro está ahí y juega muy bien. Yo no sé qué problema que podría tener?

TZ

Robert said...

He resuelto el problema - el nombre era demasiado largo para mi archivo. Usted ¡Gracias por su ayuda!

Tzadik said...

Bueno :-)

TZ

Anonymous said...

Please, please reupload link