This release is part of a series from Polish-Greek violinist Irmina Trynkos devoted to neglected musicians of interwar Europe. German composer Ignatz Waghalter may fit the bill; he fled the Nazis in 1933 and later came to America, where he attempted to organize a symphony of African-American musicians. The major works on this program, however, were composed prior to World War I. In the booklet a secondary motivation emerges: to combat the "provocative, racist, and profoundly hateful" views of Wagner, who wanted to exclude ...
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This release is part of a series from Polish-Greek violinist Irmina Trynkos devoted to neglected musicians of interwar Europe. German composer Ignatz Waghalter may fit the bill; he fled the Nazis in 1933 and later came to America, where he attempted to organize a symphony of African-American musicians. The major works on this program, however, were composed prior to World War I. In the booklet a secondary motivation emerges: to combat the "provocative, racist, and profoundly hateful" views of Wagner, who wanted to exclude Jews from German musical life and attempted to attach the question of innovation vs. respect for tradition to that effort. The notes go on to contrast the conservative music of Waghalter with his near contemporary Webern, who was not Jewish. This line of thought has some value but requires ignoring the contributions of Schoenberg, who even prior to his conversion to Lutheranism in 1898 was writing music far more modern than anything that appears here. Waghalter was a disciple of...
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